Kingdom Hearts: Rebirth - Book 1: A Tale of Two Brothers
by Reiko x 3
Summary: First installment of a five book series. The story of the childhood of brothers Vanitas and Sora Yagami and their friends. Set so far into the future of series canon that it may as well be AU. Primarily Vanitas-centric. Recommended for those age 18 or older. It gets really dark in some places...also I am a sadist who uses writing as an outlet. Reader discretion is advised.
1. Prologue

Kingdom Hearts: Rebirth

Book 1: A Tale of Two Brothers

 **A/N:** I…could not keep this story from becoming a series. It was just too long otherwise. This is going to be five books long; that's right. Five. I am entirely incapable of writing anything that does not turn into a major epic. If you don't think you can get through something this long…well, you won't like most of my work. The first two books are mostly character establishment, and plot development. There are some exciting bits, of course, but some might find it slow in comparison to the later books. Just giving fair warning; however, if you are willing to be patient, you might find yourselves drawn in to this tale.

Technically, this is not an AU story as it is set in the same universe as the games. It is simply in the distant future, long after the many worlds have been combined once more into one. The characters are not their original selves, but instead future incarnations. Therefore, they will not be entirely identical to how they were portrayed in the games. I _could_ have made it an AU story, but I find this approach to be more fun. I hope this little variation is an enjoyable read for more people than just me; I know that I have peculiar tastes. Also I tend to ramble, if you haven't noticed. If I start rambling too much in the story please leave me a review to let me know **so I can fix it**! I'm not only writing this for my own enjoyment after all. I want other people to enjoy it too, and that is hard to do when there are too many words that make no sense. Like this author's note; it got way too long. Future author's notes will NOT be this bad! I just…had a lot to say this time. Now let's get started with the story, shall we?

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. I am also a college student who lives off of Social Security due to a number of debilitating psychological disorders, so I have no money to speak of in order to purchase the rights. I don't even own my car; my parents do. This means it WILL cost you more to sue me than you will get in return. Consider this story as free advertisement to draw more people to your highly enjoyable game series. I'm just doing this for fun…and to make my imagination shut up for a bit.

Prologue: New Beginnings

Deep within the depths of Darkness there is a Light known as Kingdom Hearts. It is the source of all Hearts and the final destination of those Hearts after their owner's deaths. Since time immemorial it has existed bestowing Hearts upon those newly born, and purifying the Hearts of the newly deceased of their memories upon their return. What many do not know is that Kingdom Hearts is aware of the worlds beyond the Darkness; it has always been aware. It remembers everything, and everyone, that has ever been. It cares for the Hearts that spring from it as though they were its own children, and by extension it cares for those who bear those Hearts. It sorrows when they suffer, and rejoices when they are content. Kingdom Hearts is aware, it remembers, and it _feels_. Now it wishes to share the story of a unique Heart born long ago that has gone through many incarnations. Would you like to learn the tale? Then read on.

A light flickers as a voice which is not a voice asks, "My child, why do you sorrow?" "It's nothing," comes the response. "You know you cannot lie to me, child," the light flickers again, "Tell me what troubles you." An annoyed sigh, "I told you it's nothing. I'm just a bit bored and…lonely I guess." "Is my companionship not enough for you," the light dims in reproach. "Of course it is," the response this time is indignant, "I just…." The light remains silent as the other presence hesitates before it haltingly continues, "I just miss being alive. It's been a long time since my last incarnation, and…well…I miss having a body…and, you know, friends I can actually touch." The light flickered wildly as the voice which is not a voice laughs, "It has been a while has it not. Are you sure you are up for it, though? You do tend to die a lot." "Ha. Ha. Very funny," the other presence responds sarcastically, "It's not my fault I keep getting drawn into life-threatening situations." "Last time you challenged an evil wizard to a battle after you got fed up with him oppressing your homeland," the light flickered, "You won the fight…but dropped dead of your injuries soon afterwards. No one made you fight him, child. That was all you." The response was sheepish, "Considering my history I can't really pull the 'it was the right thing to do' card… Okay, so I got bored and wanted some action! I can't help it! I love fighting!" The light flickered again, "I am aware, child. You did not answer my question, though. Are you ready to live again?" The response was firm, "I am." "Then go forth, my child," the light brightened to a blinding brilliance, "Go forth and live once more." A fainter bluish-purple orb of light shot away into the darkness as the brighter light faded back into its steady glow. "I hope you find happiness, my child," the voice that was not a voice whispered, "And that you do not return too soon…"

Located on a peninsula in a remote region of the Kingdom of Lux there was a small village; the ground is fertile there, and the forest nearby provided all the lumber the villagers could ever need. It was, and still is, a quiet place whose residents live simply by farming, fishing, hunting, and harvesting wood. Due to its remote location, the sole defense lies with the local Town Watch who were little more than a combination militia and police force; fortunately, members of the Watch spend a tour of service serving with the Regional Guard, so they are generally more than capable of holding their own. There are maybe twenty houses in the village proper, which is surrounded by crude wooden walls, and five more small farms scattered around the fringes. A great man once said that pinning down where a story truly begins can be difficult, and such is the case here. However, it was on one of these farms, in the dead of night, that one of these potential beginnings took place. For out of the house the cries of a woman in labor were ringing. Her husband was there, as was the village healer who was serving as the midwife; it was the young couple's first child and the father was understandably anxious. Night was not considered to be the most auspicious time for a birth in rural Lux, but that is when the baby chose to come. The village healer had presided over many births in her years of service, but the time the mother had spent in labor had been longer for this one than any she had ever experienced. She was growing concerned for the health of both mother and child for both may be compromised if it lasted much longer.

Finally a break; the full throated cry of an infant sounded out through the night. The midwife took the infant into her arms and wrapped him in a blanket. "Why it's a lovely baby boy," the healer hummed thoughtfully, "And such healthy lungs too. You have a healthy son, Mr. Yagami." The new father sighed in relief, "That was utterly nerve-wracking. I'm glad it's a boy, though. We couldn't afford a girl." "You make it sound as though girls are more trouble than boys," his wife panted tiredly, though she had a slight smile on her face to show she was teasing. Of course her husband missed it. "What? No! It's just we'd have to pay a dowry if it were a girl," he stammered, "And she would have been miserable here on the farm with all the work we have to do to make ends meet." "And a boy wouldn't," Mrs. Yagami teased. "I… Uh… Er…," the new father was lost for words, "I…don't…know?" The midwife chuckled and carried the now sleeping infant over to his mother. "He really is a beautiful baby," Mrs. Yagami marveled as she took him into her arms, "He has your hair, Akira." "Well, he has your face, Kyoko," Mr. Yagami responded as he leaned over to look at his son, "And I'll bet he has your ey…" His voice trailed off as the infant yawned and opened his eyes; his brilliant, unearthly golden-yellow eyes. "How…," his mother breathed in shock, "Why are his eyes gold?!" The young couple looked at each other in shock and fear as their first-born son watched them curiously. "How very striking," the midwife mused calmly, "He'll be quite handsome when he gets older by my reckoning. What will you name him?" Mr. Yagami swallowed hard, "Name him? Um…" He looked at his wife helplessly as she sighed in dismay. "I know what we were going to call him," she murmured, "But now…" Her voice trailed off as she uneasily met her son's disconcerting gaze. Suddenly it came to her. "Vanitas," she said firmly, "His name is Vanitas."

 **A/N:** And that is the prologue. It's not that long, but prologues are supposed to be short. The actual chapters should be longer. And yes, I _did_ reference Terry Pratchett in there. I love the Discworld series and I am _still_ horribly depressed that he died. Anyway, that's my introduction into this first book. Did it catch your interest? Leave me a review and let me know what I can do to improve it! Until next time…


	2. A Strange Child

Kingdom Hearts: Rebirth

Book 1: A Tale of Two Brothers

 **A/N:** Did I mention this first book was going to be a bit slow? Because it's going to be slow. I'm trying for suspense and friendship fluff mostly in this book, but I'm not too experienced at writing that sort of thing. Seriously, though, it's mostly going to be character establishment for the first couple of chapters. Then some interesting stuff that is probably going to push the rating up to M because I am one violent and sadistic woman when I write. Then I need to make sure my protagonists' friendship is firmly established… I can't skip any of it because this is vital to their development over the rest of the series. Basically, it's backstory. Because I suffer from Tolkien syndrome. At least it isn't going to be as long as the Silmarillion…SIXTEEN VOLUMES OF BACKGROUND DETAIL! I'm not quite that bad…. Anyways, please bear with it for now. I promise it will get more interesting later on.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. I only draw on the material out of love, and I hope that anyone who read this who is _not_ familiar with the series gains an interest because of what I have written. Cause no matter how much I may love it…I OWN NOTHING!

Chapter 1: A Strange Child

The two-year old Vanitas was fascinated by his baby brother, and that fascination was returned in full. "Gol'! Gol'! Gol'," the one-year old squealed happily when his brother leaned over the side of his basket. Their mother frowned, but responded lightly to her younger son's words, "That's right, Sora. Vanitas' eyes are gold." The black-haired child smiled down at his little brother, "Hi Sora! D'you wanna know what I did today?" The infant clapped, "Day! Day!" Vanitas' grin widened as he listed off all the things he'd done. He'd climbed the log pile out back, helped his dad feed the animals, and gone hunting for frogs near the pond. "I didn't find any frogs," he sighed before brightening, "But I did see a neat snake! It was little and had stripes and speckles. I'm gonna go back tomorrow and see if it's still there." He continued by describing his endeavors to climb the large tree out back. He still wasn't able to get beyond the first branch, but he was sure that if he kept trying he'd make it to the top one day. The boy reached down to ruffle the tuft of brown hair on Sora's head as he finished, "I wish you'd get big enough that you could do all this with me. You're missin' out on a lotta fun! Oh, lemme show you these neat rocks I found!" The golden-eyed boy started pulling a bunch of rocks out of his pockets and laying them out on the floor. His mother scowled at the clods of dirt that fell off of them, "Vanitas! You're making a mess!" The little boy gave his mother a wide-eyed stare, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I just wanted to show Sora…" She shuddered in response to her son's inhuman eyes being turned on her, "Just… Just make sure you clean it up." She then abruptly stood and left the room leaving a puzzled two-year old behind. "Ya know, Sora," the boy mused thoughtfully, "Mommy and Daddy get so weird around me. I wonder why. Imma gonna find out!" He then returned to showing his baby brother the rocks he'd found making the younger boy smile and make happy noises. He spent the rest of his afternoon sitting and talking to his little brother. He went to bed that night scheming on how he would uncover the reason for his parents' strange behavior.

The next day, the little boy awoke with a crude plan in mind. It wasn't much more than a determined effort to follow one or the other of his parents around all day, and watch them intently. His efforts with his father didn't exactly pan out. "Light, boy," the man finally snapped after three hours of tolerating his son's intent focus, "Quit staring! It's rude and makes people uncomfortable!" Vanitas lowered his eyes meekly, "I'm sorry, Daddy. I was just curious…" He moved on to his mother next, but she turned out to be surprisingly skilled at avoiding him. The little boy scowled in annoyance, but persisted. Finally, his mother had enough and confronted him, "Stop following me around! I can't concentrate with you getting underfoot all the time!" The two-year old cringed, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I didn't know I was getting in the way." He wandered into his little brother's room and flopped on his back. "Well that didn't work," he groused, "I need a new plan…" Sora tried to mimic his brother, "Wok! New pan!" Vanitas laughed, "You're silly, Sora." "Siwwy Sowa," his little brother chirped happily. The two-year old laughed again then sighed. 'There has to be some way,' he mused to himself, 'That I can watch them without getting yelled at…' He suddenly sat up with a grin, "I know! I'll hide in their closet! Thanks, Sora!" The black-haired child leapt to his feet and ran out of the room as he focused on his new plan. He didn't notice his little brother waving after him, "Bye-bye, Vani!"

Vanitas poked his head through the door to his parents' bedroom. They were still cleaning up after dinner, so he knew that they weren't there. Still, he'd gotten in trouble for going into their room without permission in the past, so it was habit now to be cautious. He hesitated for only a few seconds before walking through the door and looking around. His parents' bedroom was the second largest in the house after the living room. The closet took up the entire far wall of the room and was blocked off by sliding paper doors. Their bed was up against the back wall under the window and was located halfway between the closet doors and the sliding glass door that led outside. There was a small set of drawers in the corner next to the door which contained their night-clothes and undergarments. He was relieved when he realized that his parent's should have no reason to look in the closet at all that night; his hiding place was safe. The black-haired boy meandered over to his intended hide-out and slid the doors open. It was spacious enough to accommodate a boy his size; he grabbed some loose clothes that were lying on the floor and made himself a nest in the back-center of the space. He then stepped into the closet and slid the doors almost entirely shut; he left a small crack just wide enough for him to see out of without being noticeable from the outside. He then settled himself down…and waited.

The two-year old was half asleep by the time his parents entered their room for the night. He didn't snap into awareness until he heard his name. "I haven't seen Vanitas once this evening," his mother mused, "It's been a relief. He kept staring at me with those inhuman eyes of his. It's unnerving." His father frowned, "There is something strange about that boy. I can't understand it. He's just…wrong somehow." 'What do they mean,' the boy wondered, 'How am I "wrong"? I'm just me!' His mother moved to embrace her husband. "Don't feel bad, Akira," she smiled weakly, "At least little Sora is perfectly normal." The boy blinked, 'Sora? He can't even talk that well yet. How do they know he's normal?' His father chuckled, "True. One freaky child is bad enough. I wouldn't have been able to handle two." Vanitas bit his lip and teared up slightly, 'Daddy…thinks I'm a freak? Just 'cause of my eyes? I don't…get it… Why?' "Why," he whispered brokenly. "He frightens me," his mother admitted which sent a jolt of pain through the boy's Heart as it started to break, "Those eyes… It's like staring into the eyes of some large predator! Not a child… I don't want to say he's a monster, but… It's terrifying…" The pain sharpened as his Heart fragmented even more when his father growled, "Don't worry, Kyoko. I won't let anything happen to you or our Sora." 'Daddy…didn't even mention me,' the boy realized, 'Does that mean…I'm bad? That I'm gonna hurt Mommy and Sora one day?' Vanitas swallowed hard as his parents continued getting ready for bed. 'Well,' he thought as he curled into a ball, 'At least I found out why they both act so weird around me. But…why do they think I'm bad? I don't want to hurt anybody! What did I do wrong?' He dozed off with troubled thoughts about his parents' words haunting his mind.

Vanitas snapped back into awareness in the middle of the night when he heard his mother groan in her sleep. He crept over to the closet doors and peered out through the gap; Mrs. Yagami was shifting uncomfortably in her sleep, but didn't seem likely to wake. He decided now was the perfect time to sneak back into his room. The two-year old slowly pushed the sliding doors open and slunk out before sliding them back shut; he then tip-toed across the floor while keeping an eye on his sleeping parents. The discovery of their dislike was still tormenting his mind, and he did _not_ want to know what their reaction would be if they learned he'd been spying on them. For the first time in his short life, Vanitas was truly afraid of what his parents might do to him. He never realized, as he moved stealthily, that he was wreathing himself in tendrils of Darkness that both muffled sound and caused his form to appear out of focus. He made it to the door without disturbing his parents' slumber, but he did not rush now that he was in the final stretch. He was very careful and quiet as he opened the door to the room. He successfully slipped out and shut the door with a sigh of relief. The troubled little boy rubbed his eyes as he stumbled towards his room. 'I can't let them know,' he realized sadly, 'That I know. I have to act the same, but…how can I? My parents don't love me…' He then froze once he reached his bedroom door. "What if…Sora isn't normal either and they turn on him too," he whispered. He looked down the hall at his baby brother's room and swallowed hard. 'Please. Oh please, Kingdom Hearts, don't let that happen,' he prayed desperately, 'He _has_ to be normal!' He then slipped into his room and fell on his bed in exhaustion with one last whispered plea, "Please don't make my brother a freak too…"

Something felt different when he woke up the next morning. It wasn't just the revelations he'd experienced the night before; Vanitas' body just felt different that morning. It felt like there was something coiled in his chest waiting; it didn't feel particularly eager or aggressive. It was just there. The black haired boy sighed as he got out of bed, "Did _not_ need this…" He made his way into the kitchen for breakfast where he saw his mother feeding his little brother. Again he felt a sharp pain go through him as he remembered what she had said last night and lowered his eyes, 'Mommy…is afraid of me…' Sora looked over at his older brother and grinned happily, "Vani! Vani!" Vanitas' eyes widened as he looked up sharply, "Sora? You…said my name?" "Vani! Love," Sora chirped cheerfully. The breath caught in the older boy's throat as his jaw dropped in surprise, 'Sora…loves me…?' The pain in his chest was slowly replaced by a feeling of warmth; the realization that he at least had his brother's love was slowly causing his broken Heart to heal. His mother huffed as he continued to just stand there, "Either come up to the table and eat or leave." The boy flinched, "Yes, Mommy…" The dark-haired boy walked over to the table and served himself from the pot of porridge. As he ate he made sure to keep his eyes lowered so that his mother wouldn't have to look at them. Even though he knew she didn't care for him, the little boy still loved his mother and didn't want to upset her. She noticed his oddly subdued behavior and frowned in concern. Even though she _was_ afraid of him sometimes he was still her son. "Vanitas, are you feeling okay," she asked, "You're being unusually quiet." The boy shook his head while keeping his eyes lowered, "I'm okay. I'm just thinking." She hummed in response, but accepted his explanation as she turned her attention back to feeding Sora.

The three continued to sit in relative silence interrupted only by Sora's infantile babbling. His mother eventually finished feeding her youngest son, and set him on the floor as she started to clean off the table. The one-year old sat for a bit before starting to crawl over to the cabinet where the pots and pans were kept. Vanitas was still eating, and was idly musing about the weird feeling in his chest. Little Sora reached his destination and started to tug on the cloth hanging off of the door. Mrs. Yagami ignored this as she went about her chores; the boy's older brother, however, tensed suddenly. The coiled feeling he'd been dwelling on was starting to twinge in alarm, and his eyes instinctively snapped over to his brother. The cabinet door was starting to open. Vanitas knew that the pots and pans in there were not very stable and prone to falling out suddenly; he also knew he wouldn't be able to make it over there before his brother opened the door the rest of the way. He was going to get hurt! As the door opened and the pots started to fall towards the wide-eyed one-year old, the older boy instinctively threw out his hand and pointed towards Sora. The coiled feeling in his chest abruptly surged as a barrier of pure Darkness formed around his little brother and deflected the falling metal. The sudden racket caused their mother to turn around is surprise and her eyes widened as the Shield flickered and faded as the last pot tumbled to the floor.

Vanitas slumped back into his chair as his hand fell back to his side and his eyes closed. 'Tired,' he thought hazily, 'Why…am I…? Sora! Is he…okay?' The exhausted child forced his eyes back open and turned his head towards where his brother had been. The blue-eyed infant had happily grabbed a pan and was banging it on the floor; he was perfectly safe. "It worked," the golden-eyed boy breathed in relief. Mrs. Yagami's shock started to fade as it occurred to her what her oldest child had done; he'd called on the Darkness to shield his brother, but she was more focused on the former point than the latter. The realization that her son could call on the Darkness so easily caused her shock to turn into fear…and anger. "WHAT DID YOU DO," she screamed at the semi-conscious boy. "What…," he murmured faintly. She stormed over and grabbed her oldest son by the shoulders and shook him, "Snap out of it, you little monster!" Vanitas stiffened as he registered what she'd said, "Monster? But…I'm not…" The distraught woman wasn't listening as she pulled him out of his chair and dragged him back to his room. Sora froze at the sudden commotion and started to tear up he felt a surge of pain through his young Heart, "Vani owies?" Neither registered the infant's sudden distress as they left the kitchen. Vanitas was more focused on the fact that his mother's grip was hurting his arm and fighting his exhaustion enough to protest while his mother was lost in a haze of fear driven rage. She reached his room, heaved the door open, threw he boy she'd been dragging into his room, and slammed the door shut before locking it; she then turned and headed outside to find her husband.

Vanitas lay on his bedroom floor in a daze, "What…just happened…?" He dimly registered that he'd been locked in his room, but had no idea why. He held one of his hands up in front of his eyes and stared at it, "I…saved Sora…didn't I? How…did I do that? Maybe…that feeling…from earlier?" The coiled feeling in his chest was weaker, but it was still there; the tired boy focused on it. The feeling stirred as he probed it mentally, but remained in place. 'Maybe,' he frowned thoughtfully, 'I have to want something to happen for it to react.' He focused on the feeling concentrating in his hand, and it suddenly responded by wreathing his hand in an aura of Darkness. "Cool," the boy breathed as he wiggled his fingers. The Darkness flowed between his fingers like water as he experimented with his control. 'This…is mine,' he realized as he rolled over onto his back, 'And it saved my brother… ' He then frowned, "Mommy…called me a monster…but monsters don't save people…and I saved Sora." He glared at the ceiling as he came to his conclusion, "If I only use this when people need help…then I am NOT a monster!" He dispelled the Darkness and sat up sharply, "I'm not stayin' in here when I didn't do anythin' wrong!" He walked over to the window of his room and started to wiggle it open. However, he was interrupted in his efforts by the arrival of his father.

"What," Mr. Yagami said coldly, "Do you think you are doing?" "Leavin'," Vanitas responded, "I kept Sora from gettin' a lot of owies. I did a _good_ thing!" "Darkness," his father snarled, "Is _never_ good. I don't ever want you using it ever again!" The two-year old scowled back at his father, "But it just came out when I wanted to help him! I wasn't even thinking! I just did it! How can I _stop_ using it if it _only_ comes out when I need it?" His father was unmoved, "You will _not_ use the Darkness…unless you want to be punished." The black-haired child wailed, "But that's _not fair_!" "Enough," the man shouted, "My decision is final, boy!" The man then turned around and slammed the door shut; however, he forgot to lock it behind him. Vanitas stood rigidly against the wall as a new emotion surged through him; he was _angry_ with his father. He'd never gotten angry at someone before, and the coiled Darkness in his chest eagerly fed off of it. The sudden surge of energy caused the child to yell and slam his fist into the wall next to him as another new emotion surfaced. "I _hate_ you, Daddy," he snarled, "I _hate_ you."

Vanitas seethed in his room until after his parents went to bed. It took him the entire day to bring his Darkness back under control as it fed off of the sudden surge of anger and hate. He didn't want to risk lashing out at anyone and hurting them. He may have just discovered his innate powers, but he instinctively recognized that they could be dangerous. The black-haired child also didn't want to risk running into his parents when he went to see his little brother, so he waited until he was sure they were asleep. Then he snuck out of his room and into his brother's room next door. He instinctively called on the Darkness again to shroud and silence him as he walked over to his brother's crib. "Hey, Sora," he whispered, "I hope I didn't scare you this morning." He watched the sleeping infant and remembered the warmth he felt with the little boy's declaration of love for his brother. Vanitas reached out and lightly ruffled the tuft of brown hair on his little brother's head. "No matter what happens," he vowed, "I will never let anyone or anything harm you, Sora." He gazed at the Darkness wreathing his body and clenched his fist as his resolve hardened. "I promise," the dark-haired child finished as his uncanny gold eyes glowed faintly through the Dark Veil, "No matter what it takes…I _will_ protect you."

 **A/N:** And that's the end of this chapter. The differences between this Vanitas and the original are pretty glaringly obvious. Also, before anyone starts criticizing his parents' behavior, I would just like to say that there are reasons for them. Mostly they are based in small town prejudice, so they aren't good reasons. However, I wouldn't say their reactions are _entirely_ unrealistic. Insular communities can be vicious towards those who don't fit; I know this from personal experience. I may be exaggerating certain reactions, but the motivations behind them are the same as those from my own experiences. And in case you were wondering…no; Vanitas is not going to have a happy childhood. I like tragic backstories. Read another person's work if you're looking for happy.


	3. Friendship and Suspicions

Kingdom Hearts: Rebirth

Book 1: A Tale of Two Brothers

 **A/N:** I figure I owe you guys an outline of the adult Yagami's psychologies. First the background: they live in a kingdom that, for most of its history, has been strongly biased towards Light. Darkness and those who wield it have long been considered evil. While this has changed over the past few centuries, in rural areas like the one they live in the old prejudices are still strong. This is where they both grew up, and they have no experience what-so-ever with the mode of thought prevalent in the more densely populated regions of the kingdom. For the record this is best summed up as 'Hey. Maybe the Darkness _isn't_ evil. Maybe it just is.' Now for their individual mind-sets: Mrs. Yagami was originally trying to love her son even though she was afraid of him. She is still struggling with her ingrown prejudices against Darkness now that she knows he can use it. She doesn't exactly hate him, but she just can't quite bring herself to love him, yet, either. She's mostly indifferent for now. She'll get better over time. Mr. Yagami, on the other hand, is more of problem; he _hates_ the Darkness more than anything. Plus he never fully accepted Vanitas in the first place because of his bizarre eye color. Now that he knows the boy is a Darkness wielder...he _hates_ his son. I've studied psychology in college, so I know for a fact that parents who hate their children can become…abusive. It's mostly emotional abuse at this point with occasional outbreaks of physical violence when Vanitas gets caught using his powers. However, he's going to be getting worse instead of better. Much worse. **If this bothers you then you should NOT BE READING THIS STORY. Vanitas is my current favorite and I put my favorite characters through HELL when I write…** I have never really experienced physical abuse myself, but I have a very dark, twisted, and _vivid_ imagination. Also I have more familiarity than I would like with the emotional variant. Little kids and teenagers are _cruel_. **I do not condone child abuse!** I may not _like_ children, but I have still morals…even if they are a bit…flexible… However, I am a ruthless pragmatist and if this is what the plot demands of me…then so be it. The ends justify the means. I'm not going to be writing anything detailed about the actual abuse as it happens. It mostly going to be subtle hints; I figure I shouldn't scar you guys with _all_ of the dark and twisted things my mind comes up with. Still, this story is definitely going to have dark moments…

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. I really don't own any of the things I am drawing on for this story, and I have no intention of attempting to claim ownership either. I would, however, be wildly flattered if the game designers read this and decided to use it for a game in the series… I think I'd die of happiness overload…

Chapter 2: Friendship and Suspicions

"VANI! VANI! VANI! VANI! VANI," A hyper three-year old squealed as he pounced on his sleeping older brother. "GAH," the four-year old Vanitas yelped as his brother landed on him, "Ow…" The younger boy's big blue eyes widened as his brother curled into a little ball and groaned, "I'm sorry, Vani." The older boy cracked open an eye and wheezed, "It's…fine… I'm just a bit sore is all… What are you so excited about, Sora?" Sora grinned at his brother, "We get to see Riku! His daddy is gonna help our mommy and daddy to fix the barn today, and Riku's coming with! We get to spend the entire day with him!" The black-haired boy blinked and gradually grew more enthusiastic, "That's…great. Really great! What time are they gonna get here?" "Uh…," Sora looked blank, "I dunno…" The other boy laughed softly, "Silly Sora." The younger boy stuck his tongue out at his older brother and grinned as he poked his sibling in the arm. "Not silly," he chirped, "I just forgot. I'll go ask!" Vanitas shook his head and sighed, "Its fine. I need to get up anyways." Sora grinned again and raced out of the room yelling about how Riku was coming over at the top of his lungs. The older boy flopped onto his back and groaned, "Man, I don't wanna move… Ugh…" He slowly sat up and rubbed at the healing bruises on his ribs as he swung his legs out of bed. "Good thing I heal fast," he muttered as he stood shakily, "Should be normal once Riku gets here… Dad gets worse when there are questions…" He threw out a tendril of Darkness to dim the light coming in through his window as he made his way over to his dresser, "Too bright…."

Vanitas was in the habit of wearing clothing –usually some shade of black, red, or dark blue – that covered as much skin as possible; this day was no different as he entered the kitchen wearing long black pants, a dark red long-sleeved shirt, and black vest. His mother looked over at him coolly as he walked in and flicked her eyes quickly over his outfit before nodding absently. "Breakfast is on the table," she said flatly, "Serve yourself." "Yes, Mom," he responded evenly, "Dad finished already?" The woman nodded briskly, "He ate early and headed out to the barn to get a better idea of what specific repairs need to be done. The Shimomura's should be over in an hour or so, and I expect you and your brother to be able to entertain yourselves while we work." "I'll keep an eye on him," Vanitas promised. His mother offered him an empty smile before she stood and left the room. The young boy sighed and glanced at his brother who was shoveling food into his face. The older boy tapped him on the back of the head, "Slow down before you choke yourself, silly." Sora stopped and grinned, "But it's so-o-o good!" "Mom's an amazing cook," the elder of the two smiled weakly before he continued in his head, 'Too bad she still hates me…'

The two boys soon finished their breakfast and headed outside to wait for their friend to arrive. Sora could not stand still and kept bouncing from foot to foot as he waited while chanting Riku's name over and over. Vanitas was more subdued as he leaned against the house and rubbed his eyes from time to time. 'Still too bright," he thought and was wondering if it would be worth the risk to wreath himself in Darkness while he was waiting. His ribs twinged again, though, and he ultimately decided against it. Gradually, the pain faded until about a half an hour later it was gone entirely. "Finally healed," he sighed in relief. "You say something, Vani," Sora glanced over at his brother inquisitively. "Nothing," Vanitas lied easily, "Hey, I think I see them!" The younger brother turned sharply and looked down the road leading to the village, "Where?!" The older boy walked over to his brother, turned him the right way, and pointed, "There. See? They took the short-cut." Sure enough, coming down a trail leading through the nearby woods were a man and a boy both with silver hair. The three-year old brunette squealed happily and ran towards them, "Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-iku-u-u-u-u-u-u!" The black-haired boy laughed and ran after his sibling to greet their friend.

"Are you excited to spend the day with your friends, son," the silver-haired man asked the boy at his side as they walked through the woods. "Yeah," the boy replied enthusiastically, "I can't wait!" The man laughed at his son's eagerness, "Try not to get into too much trouble now. It wouldn't really reflect well if the Captain of the Watch's son turned into a delinquent." "A what," the boy asked. "A boy who gets in trouble for fun, Riku," the blue-eyed man clarified. Riku nodded thoughtfully, "Okay… I won't, Daddy." The pair walked on in silence for a bit longer before Riku spoke up again. "Daddy," he asked, "Why does Vanitas always wear long clothes when he visits? Doesn't that get hot?" The man frowned thoughtfully, "You know, I've always wondered about that myself. I plan on asking his parents that very thing today if I get the chance." "Okay," Riku replied, "I just started thinking that it was weird that Vanitas dresses that way when Sora doesn't. You'll tell me later, right?" The silver-haired man nodded absently as his frown grew; he'd always felt there was something off about the way his cousin's son acted around his parents. It set of numerous alarm bells accumulated from his years in the Watch. He knew from experience, though, that the boy and his parents would likely shut down if asked directly. The key was not to let on that he suspected anything was amiss. He just hoped desperately he was wrong about his suspicions. Finally, the pair approached the edge of the forest. "Looks as though we are almost there," the man observed, "We should see the Yagami's farm as soon as we leave the forest." Riku grinned happily and sped up his walk; as they broke through the edge of the woods Riku paused briefly to shield his eyes from the light of the sun. It had been much dimmer in the trees. Before he started walking again though he heard the gleeful cry of one of his friends and looked up. Sora was racing down the track towards them trailed by his older brother. Riku started running as well and waved back, "Sora! Vanitas!"

The three boys met at the border of the farm where Sora tackled his older silver-haired friend. "You're here! You're here! You're here," he babbled happily. Vanitas laughed and reached down to pull his brother off the winded silver-head. Riku shot the younger boy a mock glare, "You're gonna pay for that, Sora." "No, I won't," Sora chirped, "Vani will get you if you try anything." The black-haired boy grinned evilly, "Hm, I don't know… That was pretty mean of you. Knocking him down like that and all…" Sora looked horrified as Riku matched his older brother's grin. He started to shake as the two older boys shared a conspiratorial look and started moving towards the youngest of their trio. "Tickle torture," they yelled as they pounced on the trembling brunette. "AH! NO! PLEASE! I'M SORRY," the smaller boy begged as he laughed and squirmed under the assault. Vanitas looked over at his silver-haired friend from where he had his brother's arms pinned, "What do you think, Riku? Has he learned his lesson?" Riku paused from tickling the younger boy's sides and gave a mock contemplative look at the breathless boy's face. "I suppose so," he drawled, "You can let him up." The older boy's golden-yellow eyes sparkled mischievously as he let go of his brother's wrists, "I hear and obey, my lord." The silver-haired boy stuck his tongue out at his friend, "Dork." "Sissy," the ebony-haired boy shot back. "Fluff-head!" "Old man!" "Jerk!" "Idiot!" The two boys were nose to nose with the youngest boy looking between them with a worried look before they broke away and laughed at each other. "Good to see ya," the older boy drawled as he held up his clenched fist crosswise in front of him. "You too," the slightly younger one responded as he mimicked the gesture and bumped forearms with his friend. "You two are weird," Sora said as he looked back and forth between the two older boys. "You'll get it when you're older, Sora," Vanitas grinned at his younger brother as he put his arm down. "Yeah," Riku agreed, "It's a grown-up thing." Sora looked indignant, "But you," he pointed at his older brother, "Are only a year older than me and you," he pointed at his friend, "Are two months younger than _he_ is!" "Still counts," the two older boys chorused cheerfully.

The silver-haired man laughed as he watched the boys greet each other before he made his way towards the barn behind the farmhouse. It was always a relief to see Vanitas acting like a normal child. As he came around the edge of the house he raised his arm in greeting, "Kyoko! How are you today?" Mrs. Yagami looked up from the laundry she was folding, "Ah, Touya! I'm fine. Thank you for asking." "Where's Akira," Touya Shimomura asked his cousin's wife, "He's the one who asked me out here, after all. It's not like him to not be hanging around to greet me." Kyoko Yagami shook her head in exasperation, "Out in the barn. We knew it needed repairing, but he wanted to get a better idea of exactly what those repairs might be. You know how he is. Always has to be certain about everything." Mr. Shimomura sighed in mock pity, "My dear woman, you have the patience of a saint. My cousin must be such a trial for you to put up with. You have my deepest and most heartfelt condolences." "Oi, stop trying to turn my wife against me you jerk," Akira Yagami called as he walked up. "But that's what family is for," Mr. Shimomura said innocently, "Making life hell for their relatives." Mr. Yagami laughed, "Tell me about it. How's life as an over-glorified thief-catcher?" "Not bad," the older blue-eyed man smirked, "How's life scratching in the dirt?" "Could be worse," his cousin replied, "Will be if we don't get the barn's roof patched before winter. Not to mention several of the higher windows are broken. And then there is the fact that the hinges are going out on the main doors. The thing is a wreck. It's going to take several weeks to get it back into shape…" The black-haired man sighed and buried his head in his hands, "Why did I say yes when grand-dad offered me the family farm again?" Touya laughed, "Couldn't tell you. I said no when he offered it to me because I was happy in the Watch. Still am."

The two men headed over to the barn in order to get to work. "So what are we going to start with, Akira," Touya asked. "I figure the roof is going to be the most difficult fix. I can handle the hinges on my own," Akira replied. Mr. Shimomura nodded, "And the windows?" "You can come out another day to help with that right," the younger man asked hopefully. The older man laughed and nodded to show that he could manage that. The two men made it to the barn and got to work. Mr. Yagami grabbed a ladder and some tools before heading up to the roof with his cousin in tow. The two men worked mostly in silence; Touya was still waiting for the ideal moment to bring up his concerns over Vanitas. He finally got his chance when his cousin suggested they break for lunch and started griping about the heat. "It is hot today, isn't it," Mr. Shimomura mused, "I wonder how your eldest is holding up. I noticed he was dressed pretty warmly." Akira scowled, "He'll be fine. The boy is pretty much immune to everything." "That must be a relief," the silver-haired man commented idly, "You never have to worry about him falling ill." "Yeah," the other man grunted, "It's great. Can we not talk about it?" "What are you so upset about," his older cousin wondered. The younger man sighed harshly, "There is something wrong with that boy. He rarely gets sick, he heals incredibly fast, and those eyes of his… It's just inhuman! You see it too, don't you?!" Touya was seriously taken aback by how distraught his cousin seemed to get over the issue. "I can't say that I do," the older man said slowly, "Sure his eyes are an unusual color, but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with him. Besides, I've seen stranger eye colors back in basic. Did I tell you about my bunkmate? He had red eyes and pointy ears; turned out to be a freak mutation. At least the only noticeable strange thing about your boy is his eyes. You got lucky." Mr. Yagami snorted bitterly, "Yeah. Sure. Lucky."

The three boys had spent the morning hanging around the pond looking for weird snakes and frogs. "See anythin' yet," Sora asked the other two. "Nope." "Nuh-uh." The youngest boy sighed and continued poking through the grass around the pond with his stick. He was startled when Riku slid up next to him and hissed in his ear, "Hey, Sora." The younger boy squeaked and nearly fell over before the older boy caught him. "Listen," he whispered, "I need your help with something." "What," the brunette whispered back. "I wanna prank your brother, but I need you to distract him so I can get into position," the silver-haired boy replied, "I promise it'll be funny." Sora nodded vigorously, "Yeah. I can do that!" His older friend grinned mischievously, "Great! I'll pretend I'm still looking for snakes while you go over and hold his attention!" The younger boy grinned back and started looking for a something he could use as a distraction. The brunette spotted a log jutting out into the pond and decided the best way to distract his brother was to try and balance on it. "Hey, Vani," the boy called out as he crawled up onto the log, "Look at me!" The older boy glanced over and paled drastically, "Sora! Get down! You'll get hurt!" "No," Sora called back obstinately, "I can do it!"

Vanitas was legitimately frightened because he knew that log was mostly rotten and on the verge of falling to bits. He abandoned his search entirely and hurried over to the log as his brother walked higher and higher. The log started to groan and shift in warning as even Riku realized that his younger friend had gone too far. "Sora, turn back," the silver-haired boy shouted. The younger boy paused and glanced at his friend, "Why? This is fun!" "It's gonna fall," came the panicked response. As if on cue, the log let out a sharp crack and sagged suddenly. The brunette staggered and just barely managed to save himself from falling off as he cried out in fear. "Sora," Vanitas called suddenly, "Down here!" The scared little boy looked down and saw his older brother standing right under him. "Let go," the dark-haired boy said calmly, "I'm right here. I promise I'll catch you." "But you'll get an owie," Sora whimpered. "Better me than you," came the response, " Anyways, I'm not moving until you're safe. So if you don't let go we'll both get hurt and Mom will be upset. So let go." The younger boy whimpered again, but he didn't want his mother to be upset. "Okay," he whispered and let go of the log. His older brother caught him, but couldn't handle the weight and fell over backwards with his little brother on top of him. He grunted as he landed and looked down at his terrified younger sibling. "You okay," he wheezed. The little boy nodded back, his eyes wide with fear, "Uh-huh." "Guys, get out of there," Riku yelled, "It's still going!" Vanitas tensed and glared up at the log as the Darkness in him surged. "Sora, hold on to me," he murmured; once again he was acting on instinct and channeled the Darkness into his arms and legs as he sat up. The younger boy obeyed and squeaked in shock as the two boys shot out from under the log so fast that everything blurred. His older brother skidded to a stop and glanced back as the log fell heavily to the ground. "Well, that was close," he sighed. He then glanced down at Sora who was still clinging to his chest with a death grip, "You can let go now." Riku ran over with a look of wonder on his face, "That was amazing! How did you move so fast?" Vanitas froze as he realized what he'd done, "Um…"

Sora abruptly released his grip and fell to the ground with a dazed look on his face. "Ev'ry thin's spinnin'," he slurred. The two older boys looked down at the disoriented brunette and couldn't help laughing. 'Thank you, Sora,' the oldest thought in relief, 'For saving me from having to answer.' He glanced at his laughing friend as his own laughter started to die down, 'I hope he doesn't ask me again. I don't want to lie…but I can't tell him the truth either. Man, this stinks… Stupid Dad and his stupid rules…' For his part, the youngest child was scowling at the silver-haired boy now that he was the only one still laughing. "'S not funny," he grumbled, "'M only three. 'M not s'posed to go that fast…" "Sorry, sorry," Riku chuckled, "I'm just glad everyone's okay." He then got a thoughtful look on his face which made Vanitas panic slightly, 'Please don't ask me. Please don't ask me. Please don't ask me!' "Hey, Vanitas." 'NO! Nonononononononono!' "How _did_ you move that fast. I didn't even see you move," the silver haired boy finished. "I…," the dark haired boy hesitated before he sighed, "I can't tell you. I want to, but…Dad would get angry. I can't." He flinched and looked away on the last two words. For the first time, Riku started to suspect that more was up with his friend than the fact that he always wore long clothes. "Hey. It's fine," he said with an easy grin, "I don't wanna get you in trouble with your dad." 'But I don't like that your dad is making you lie,' he thought, 'Lying's wrong… Mom and Dad said so.' "I'm hungry," Sora grumbled. "Yeah, it is almost lunch time," Vanitas smiled weakly, "Let's head back. You'll love my Mom's cooking, Riku. It's great!" Riku snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, "Okay. Let's go!" The two older boys helped the still dizzy younger one to his feet and helped him walk back to the house.

The three boys stumbled indoors and landed in a heap on the kitchen floor. "What happened to you, kids," Mr. Shimomura asked with a raised eyebrow. "Stupid door got stuck," Vanitas grumbled. "It does do that occasionally," Mrs. Yagami mused. "Oh fuck, not another thing I have to fix," Mr. Yagami groaned. "It's not serious," the woman reassured her husband, "You just have to jiggle it a bit sometimes and give it more of a push." The three boys climbed back to their feet and walked over to the kitchen table. "What's for lunch, Mommy," Sora chirped, now fully recovered from his fall and subsequent dash to safety. "BLT sandwiches," she replied. "Yay! Bacon! I love bacon," Sora cheered. Vanitas remained silent as he climbed into his seat with a cautious glance at his father. The man scowled at his son, but pushed the plate of sandwiches over. "Remember to serve your brother first,' he said shortly. "Yes sir," was the boy's stiff reply. Touya frowned at the barely hidden hostility between father and son, and was even more disturbed by the way the boys' mother ignored it. Sora's obliviousness was understandable; after all, he was only three, but for the mother to ignore it… 'How long has this been going on,' he wondered uneasily. "Here you go, Sora," the black-haired boy murmured as he placed a couple of sandwiches on his little brother's plate. "Yay! Thanks Vani," Sora beamed. The older brother returned the smile weakly before serving himself and passing the plate onto Riku, "Try them. They're really good. Mom's bread is the best." Riku accepted the plate from his friend, and served himself. He felt slightly unnerved by his ebony-haired friend's suddenly reserved behavior, but was determined not to let on about how it bothered him. "Thanks Vanitas," he smiled openly. Sora had already finished his first sandwich and was inhaling his second. "Sora breathe," the golden-eyed boy chided, "You'll choke." "You said the same thing this morning," the younger boy pouted. "No, I said for you to slow down before you choke yourself," the older boy corrected. "Same thing," the brunette whined. "Listen to your brother, Sora," Kyoko chided, "He's only trying to look out for you." The older boy's eyes widened as he looked at his mother, 'What? She's…supporting me? But she never takes my side… Maybe it's because we both care about Sora… That must be it…' The youngest boy pouted again, "Fine… I'll slow down." "They are really good sandwiches, Mrs. Yagami," Riku piped up. "Thank you, dear. And please, call me Kyoko," the woman smiled warmly at the silver-haired boy.

Lunch was finished in relative silence. Finally, Akira stood up and glanced at his cousin, "Well, we better get back to working on the roof. Let's go Touya." Touya nodded and got to his feet as well, "You boys help Kyoko clean up, okay?" "Oh no," she shook her head lightly, "I'm fine on my own. Besides, it's easier to clean without rowdy boys getting underfoot." "So we can head back out to play," Sora asked eagerly. "Of course," Kyoko smiled at her youngest, "Go have fun." The young brunette whooped happily, "C'mon Riku! Vani! Let's go." Riku laughed at his friend's exuberance and nodded. "You heard him, Vanitas. Looks like we're off," he joked. The oldest boy smiled faintly, "Yeah. I'm coming. Thank you for lunch, Mom. It was great." Mrs. Yagami's smile seemed slightly emptier as she responded, "Why thank you, Vanitas. I'm glad you liked it." Mr. Shimomura frowned at the awkwardness of the exchange; there was no hostility only a sense of distance. Such a thing shouldn't exist between a mother and her son. 'There is definitely something wrong here,' he thought grimly, 'But what? And how long before it grows worse?'

Vanitas rejoined the other two in the front yard with a more genuine smile on his face. "So what are we gonna do now," he asked. "I wanna see you two fight," Sora chirped. Riku grinned, "What you wanna see me beat your big brother?" "As if," the black-haired boy shot back, "I've won more often than you have!" The young brunette scampered off, "I'll get the sticks!" The two older boys were too busy glaring at each other to notice his absence. "You're going down, Fluffy," the silver-haired boy growled. "We'll see about that, Gramps," Vanitas hissed back. Sora soon returned with a couple of long sticks and held them out for the two older boys to grab, "I got them!" "Thanks Sora," the oldest boy said absently as he claimed his stick. "Yeah, thanks," Riku echoed as he mimicked the other's action. The two boys got into their stances as the youngest boy stepped back and held his hand up. "Ready," he called out and dropped his hand sharply, "Go!" The two older boys lunged forwards on the word 'go' and clashed their makeshift swords together before springing back. They circled each other warily before Riku suddenly lunged at Vanitas' left side, but the older boy swiftly moved his stick to block and shoved him back. "Too slow, Riku," he called. "I'm just getting started," the silver-haired boy responded. The two boys lunged forwards again and started to move back and forth across the yard as their sticks clashed together violently. Both were remarkably talented for their age, and were fairly evenly matched. That was why Sora loved to watch them fight; it gave him something to aim for. The match continued until one of the boys made a mistake. Riku lunged forward again, but tripped over a rock; he dropped his stick and suddenly froze as his opponent tapped _his_ stick on his head. "I win," Vanitas grinned, "again." "Only because of that stupid rock," the silver-haired boy challenged. "A win is a win," the older boy responded evenly. "That was so cool," Sora called out as he ran back over, "You guys are really good!" The two older boys looked at each other and chuckled. "I guess we are," the ebony-haired boy mused. "Want us to show you a few tricks," the silver-haired one offered. The youngest boy squealed in glee, "YES! Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes!" "Then do as I do," Vanitas held up his stick and started to show his little brother a few basic moves with Riku coaching in the background.

Touya sighed as he nailed down the last shingle, "That's the last of them. Think that'll be good enough?" Akira looked at the roof critically, "I'd have to go down below to check, but I'm pretty sure we got all the gaps covered." The older man sighed in relief, "Thank goodness. I was starting to think I'd have to spend the night." The black-haired man gave a mock glare to his cousin, "Oh, I'm so sorry that helping your only cousin is _so_ inconvenient. Next time I'll do it alone, and fall and break my neck in the process." He threw his hand dramatically over his eyes on the last words as his cousin burst out laughing. "You should have joined the theater, Akira," he chuckled, "You've got the flair for the dramatic down flat." "Nah, I'm fine with farming," Mr. Yagami responded with a smirk. The two men climbed down from the barn roof and carried their equipment back into the barn. "So when do you want me to come out next," Mr. Shimomura asked as he hung up the ladder. "Sometime next week should be fine," his cousin responded after thinking for a bit, "Will you be bringing Riku with you?" "Probably," the older man replied, "He does love getting to spend time with his friends." The younger man nodded and sighed, "It's good for Sora to have other kids to socialize with." Touya frowned, "He doesn't seem lonely. I was always under the impression that Sora spent most of his time with his brother." Akira mumbled his response, "That's the problem." "You know," the silver-haired main said lightly as he watched his cousin closely, "I'm starting to get the impression that you don't like your son very much."

The younger man hesitated briefly before he responded, "Its…not that. I'm afraid Vanitas is a bit of a problem child and I don't want Sora to go the same way. Your boy's a good influence, though." Touya frowned as he registered several tells, 'He's lying…' He stopped and put his hand on his cousin's shoulder, "You know, I am the Captain of the Watch. I could have a talk with him about his behavior. I'm pretty sure I could get through to him." The black-haired man sighed and shook his head, "Thanks for the offer, Touya, but this is my problem. It's something I have to take care of on my own in my own way." Something dark flashed through the younger man's eyes as he spoke before he shook his head and laughed lightly, "Besides, I'd be a pretty poor excuse for a father if I can't correct my own son's faults without help." The older man's frown deepened as he realized he wasn't going to get anything more out of his cousin. He was almost positive that the younger man was treating his eldest son poorly; he didn't have anything he could consider as proof that the relationship was psychically abusive, but the man's behavior and his son's attitude did point to an emotionally abusive relationship. Unfortunately, emotional abuse was not a criminal act, so he couldn't do anything about that. 'And even worse,' he thought, 'Since Vanitas is apparently a fast healer my chances of finding evidence of physical abuse are not good if matters _do_ escalate. He'd have to come looking for help, but the fact that he won't even talk about _this_ … There's really nothing I can do…is there…?' "Just," he sighed finally, "Don't go too far, Akira. I don't want to have to come out here for official reasons. You _are_ family after all." "Don't worry," the younger man laughed, "I'm not about to put you into that sort of situation. We'll be fine." 'I doubt it,' the older man worried to himself, 'Oh, Vanitas, I am so sorry…'

Sora was clinging to Riku's waist as he stood awkwardly next to his father at the farm gates and wailing at the top of his lungs. "But I dun wan' 'im ta leave yet," he cried, "We were havin' fun!" "I'll be coming out again next week, Sora," Riku sighed. Kyoko knelt down and gently pried her youngest son's hands off of his friend's shirt, "Come now, Sora. Don't make a scene. You'll see your friend again soon enough. Look at your brother. He's being nice and polite." The tearful brunette glanced back at his deceptively calm older brother and sniffled, "Okay…" Internally, Vanitas was struggling not to run up to Mr. Shimomura and beg him to stay longer. 'I don't want you to leave,' he thought desperately as tears pricked at the corner of his eyes, 'The only time my father is anywhere _near_ nice to me is when people are over! Please don't leave me alone with him! Please!' "Don't be a stranger now, Touya," Akira said with a grin, "You and your family are always welcome to visit." "I might take you up on that," Touya replied as he met the black-haired child's desperate gaze, "Or maybe you could come and visit us." The brunette woman stood up with her youngest son in her arms and sighed, "I wish we could, but the farm takes so much work that we don't have the time." "Your sons then," he pressed lightly, "My wife adores her godsons, and I'm sure she'd love to have them over for a day or two." Sora perked up, "Auntie Mika! Yeah, can we? Please?" Mr. Yagami hesitated, looked at his wife and youngest son, and then turned his gaze on his oldest child before he sighed, "I'll…think about it." Touya nodded and held his hand out for his son to grab, "Come on, Riku. I gave your mother a call once we finished the barn, so she should have dinner ready for us by the time we get back." "Okay, Daddy," Riku chirped, "Bye Sora! Bye Vanitas! See you soon!" Sora waved both his arms eagerly, "Bye-bye, Riku!" Vanitas swallowed hard and raised his hand weakly in a wave, "Bye, Riku…" The two silver-haired males turned and walked down the forest trail as the Yagami's turned to head indoors, but not before the black-haired child glanced back longingly. "Why couldn't you have stayed," he breathed.

Vanitas grunted as his father shoved him into his room, and staggered over to his bed as the man shut the door behind him. "You only have yourself to blame," Akira said coldly, "You used that infernal power of yours again. You know the consequences." "Sora could have gotten really hurt if I hadn't," the black-haired boy leaned heavily on his bed as he spoke, "It was worth it." The man scowled at his son, "I sincerely doubt that. And what was with that look you were giving my cousin earlier?" "I wanted him to stay," the boy responded in a dull voice, "I don't get hurt when people stay." The black-haired man grabbed his son's arm roughly and twisted it, causing the boy to cry out in pain, and snarled, "Consider yourself lucky that I am in a fairly good mood. I should punish you again for that statement!" "I'm…sorry," the dark-haired boy gasped, "Please…stop… Agh…" The boy's father released his son allowing him to slump to the ground and clutch his arm in pain. "Know this, boy," cold blue eyes glinted as he growled, "No one is going to save a monster like you. You deserve everything that you get. Remember that…" The man then turned and walked out of the room slamming and locking the door behind him. Vanitas simply curled into a ball on the floor as silent tears leaked from his eyes. "I just," he whispered brokenly, "want the pain to stop…" Unknown to the injured boy, his brother was also crying in his room as his Heart ached. "Vani's hurting again," Sora whimpered, "Why does he always get owies when I don't? It hurts…"

 **A/N:** I did warn you that things were going to be a bit dark. If you're wondering how Akira knew Vanitas used his abilities…the roof of the barn has a pretty good view of the farmyard. The pond is well within sight, though the details aren't as sharp as they could be. He _could_ still see clear enough to notice the log falling and the blur that was Vanitas running. He's not an idiot; he can put two and two together. Um, fair warning, I have a dry, and slightly dark, sense of humor. Expect Vanitas to be displaying a bit of that later on. It seems in character considering the background I'm giving him. Finally, if people are wondering about that little bit at the end the explanation is fairly simple. Remember how in the last chapter Sora started crying after their mother called Vanitas a monster? Their Hearts formed a weak empathic connection so the emotional pain Vanitas felt then was broadcasted to his brother. The intensity is a bit diluted, but he can still feel his older brother's pain. The connection has been growing stronger over the years, though, so the intensity has been growing as well. It's only going to keep growing, too. By the time they're teenagers the connection will not only go both ways, but they will be aware of it. Expect Vanitas to clamp down on his end a lot.


	4. A New Friend?

**A/N:** I owe you guys a light chapter considering what's coming up next time, so it's time to introduce Kairi! I would like to emphasize that these are little kids here, so there will be no pairings, hints at future pairings, or anything like that. It is pure friendship. Relationships aren't even going to be considered by these kids until _maybe_ the last three or four chapters of this book….and most of the next one. They aren't even going to be a major factor until the third book. Besides I can't really write romance too well seeing as I have never even been on a date and have no idea how it even feels like to be in love; also I'm asexual. It's just one of those things I neither really get nor am I particularly interested in. I…just started rambling again. DAMMIT! Sorry. Nothing really heavy happens in this chapter; just friendship cuteness…and Kairi being annoyed with Vanitas. Also some more hints at darker things going on in the background.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. Unless they decide to sell them to some other company sometime between when I post this and my death. Then they belong to whoever owns the rights. Most likely Disney. I can see Disney trying to gain exclusive rights to the Kingdom Hearts series. Anything that makes them more money. F-ing Disney… Point is I do not, and never will, own the source material.

Chapter 3: New Friend?

Touya Shimomura was annoyed. The mayor had called him early in the morning claiming he had an emergency; as the Captain of the Watch, the silver-haired man automatically assumed it must be something serious if he was being called out at 5:00 A.M. The reason he was annoyed was that the so-called emergency was that the man's wife wanted to go on 'a romantic sailing trip and maybe a picnic', and the couple needed someone to watch their four-year old daughter. _Captain_ Shimomura rubbed the bridge of his nose in an attempt to ward off a headache, "Sir, you _do_ realize that the Watch is not responsible for finding last-minute babysitters right?" Mayor Uchida huffed indignantly, "I know that! However, I figured I could turn our little Kairi over to you for the day. Your wife is fond of children, isn't she?" The blue-eyed man sighed as he imagined the happy squeal his wife had to suppress every time his godsons visited, "Sometimes excessively. She's always been disappointed that her body just won't allow her to have any more children safely." "Then there should be no trouble," the blonde man said jovially. "I just don't understand why you felt the need to call at this ungodly hour," Touya groaned, "The girl isn't even awake!" "We wanted to get an early start," Mrs. Uchida giggled, "You don't mind do you?" "Mind? No. I love getting up this early," the Captain replied sarcastically. "Wonderful," Mrs. Uchida squealed. Touya had to resist the urge to facepalm at the mayor's wife's obliviousness. "I'll go get Kairi," she told her husband cheerfully, "She'll be so excited to have a new friend to play with!"

Touya sighed, "You mean friends. My cousin's sons have been staying over for the past few days. Their parents had to make a trip to Aozora for spare parts. They're due to be back tomorrow." The mayor frowned in concertation, "Both of them? I see… That is troubling, but we really don't have any other options." "Troubling? How," the Captain frowned. "It's the older one," the mayor admitted, "He's a bit peculiar. I'm not sure I'm comfortable allowing him near my daughter." "Vanitas," the other man said firmly, "Is a nice, well-behaved little boy. A bit uncomfortable around strangers perhaps, but that's perfectly normal for children his age." "But those eyes," Mayor Uchida protested, "They pierce right through you!" "And I am going to tell you exactly what I told my cousin," Captain Shimomura responded drily, "I've seen worse in basic. Vanitas is harmless." The blonde man sighed roughly, "Well, if you're sure…" Mrs. Uchida returned with a sleepy little red-headed girl in tow shortly after her husband relented. "Now be good for Captain Shimomura and his wife, okay sweetie," the woman told the drowsy child. "Mm," the little girl mumbled incoherently. She was clearly falling asleep where she stood. Touya knelt down and poked the dozing child in the shoulder, "Kairi? You need to wake up for a little bit. I promise you can go back to sleep once we reach my home." Kairi roused herself just enough to nod back, "Okay, Cap'n…." She stumbled over and wrapped her arms around the silver haired man's neck, "Goin' back ta sleep now…." The Captain sighed and picked up the, now sleeping, four-year old, "Next time try to time this a bit better, okay?" The mayor and his wife had the grace to at least look a bit sheepish as they agreed before they closed the door in the silver-haired man's face. He only sighed and muttered, "I should've signed on with the Guard…"

Touya returned home to find his wife had already gotten up, and was busy in the kitchen pulling out the ingredients to make baked apple pancakes. "I'm guessing it wasn't much of an emergency if you're back already," she quipped without turning around. "The 'emergency'," the man replied drily, "Was that the mayor and his wife are way too spontaneous and needed someone to watch their daughter while they have a mini romantic getaway." Mrs. Shimomura poked her head out of the kitchen and gave her husband an incredulous look, "You're kidding." He turned and presented the slumbering little girl on his right shoulder causing his wife to give a muffled squeal. "Oh, she's absolutely precious," she cooed, "Poor little thing. It is way too early for her to be out and about! Go settle her in our bed, would you Touya?" The silver-haired man laughed silently and nodded, "I hear and obey, Lady Mikazuki! I hear and obey." Mikazuki stuck her tongue out at her husband with a childish wink before she went back to getting breakfast ready. "I hope she likes apples," she murmured to herself as she surveyed the ingredients in front of her, "Right. Time to get to it, Mika!" Meanwhile, her husband carefully walked up the stairs and walked into the master bedroom. He gently laid the sleeping little girl in the middle of the bed and pulled the covers up to her chin before slipping quietly back out of the room. "I better remind the boys to play nice when they wake up," he muttered, "I hope they don't give her a hard time…"

Riku woke up with the idea for a wonderful prank to play on the older of his two best friends on his mind. He smirked evilly as he snuck over to his friend's cot, leaned way over, and stared intently at the older boy's face. His target started to stir restlessly after a while and soon his eyes fluttered open…only to behold his best friend's face hanging right over his. Needless to say, Vanitas yelped and fell off the cot in surprise causing his silver-haired friend to burst out laughing. "What the hell, Riku," the older boy gasped angrily. "Language," the other boy chided. "You'd swear too if you woke up to someone's face being way to close," came the dry retort, "Besides have you _heard_ Akira when he's fixing things?" Riku frowned at his friend, "I still don't get why you refer to your dad by his name now." "Because he doesn't act like one," the other boy muttered darkly, "Can we not talk about it? I'm enjoying the break too much to think about how much Akira fails at basic dad-ness." The silver-haired boy nodded and grinned evilly at his friend, "Want to help me pull the same prank on Sora?" The grin was returned in full, "Do you have to ask?" The two five-year old boys shared a moment of maniacal laughter before they crept over to the _still_ sleeping four-year old and got into position.

Mika looked up from the book she was reading while waiting on the oven when she heard a high pitched squeal of fear. "Touya," she called exasperatedly, "Your son is awake." "He's your son too," the man replied drily. "Not when he's being an ass," came the deadpan response, "It's your turn to calm down Sora." "Yes dear," he sighed. He headed towards the back of the house where the boys were sharing a room. "Having fun, boys," Touya asked drily as he opened the door. "I have no idea what you're talking about," his five-year old son replied innocently. "Maybe Sora had a nightmare," Vanitas offered with an angelic smile…too bad it clashed with the devilish glint in his eyes. Sora, of course, was curled in a little ball with his eyes practically popping out of his head; he was also hyperventilating like crazy. "Eyes….in my face….so close," he gasped. Riku's father sighed and walked over to the panicking four-year old, "It's fine, Sora. Your brother and my son just decided they were going to be jerks this morning." "Riku did it to me first," the oldest boy muttered. "Vanitas," Riku protested. "We aren't getting away with it and you know it," came the other boy's response, "Besides, you did prank me first. So really…this is all your fault!" "You didn't have to go along with it," the silver-haired boy shot back. "Riku? It's me," Vanitas deadpanned. His friend froze and sighed, "Good point…" By this point, Sora had latched on to Touya's shirt and was glaring at the older two boys, "Meanies!" The silver-haired man sighed and looked over at the two guilty parties, "Vanitas, I know you are terrible at resisting the temptation to prank, but that was a cruel thing to do. As punishment you don't get any dessert tonight. Riku, you should know better than to scare a little kid like that. After the Yagamis go home you are grounded for three days, and no dessert for you either." "Why does Vanitas get off with only no dessert," Riku wailed. "Because he's not my son to punish," Touya replied flatly, "I'll leave that up to _his_ parents."

Vanitas paled, "Oh. Great. You'll come to my funeral, right?" Both silver haired males gave the black-haired boy a weird look prompting him to continue, "That was a joke." 'Sort of…,' he admitted internally. "Your sense of humor needs work," his best friend muttered. "I thought it was funny," the older boy grumbled. Touya sighed and shook his head, "Breakfast will be ready soon, so you should probably get dressed." "Why," Sora piped up, "We aren't going anywhere, are we?" The man laughed and replied, "No, but we have a guest this morning. The mayor wanted Mika and I to watch his daughter for him, so she's going to be spending the day here while her parents are out. She's sleeping upstairs right now. I want all three of you," he gave the boys a sharp look, "to be nice to her. She's only a little girl, so try not to play so rough today." "Okay," Sora chirped. "I guess," Riku sighed. Vanitas nodded, but cringed inwardly, 'Just ignore her and you'll be fine… Oh man, this is gonna suck _so bad_ …' Touya smiled at the boys, "Alright, I'll hold you to it." He then stood up and walked out of the door with one last comment, "I think you'll like her. I remember she has a lot of spunk for such a little thing." The ebony-haired boy waited until Riku's father was out of earshot before he flopped on his back with a groan, "I'm doomed." The silver-haired boy poked his friend with his foot, "What are you so upset about?" "The mayor and his wife hate me," came the flat response, "This new girl will probably hate me too. I do _not_ want to spend the entire day being picked on for things I can't control." 'I get enough of that at home,' he thought as he closed his eyes. "Maybe she won't be so bad," Sora chirped. Vanitas grumbled darkly, "I doubt it…"

Up in the Shimomura's room Kairi was starting to wake up. She stirred, blinked her eyes open, and shot up abruptly, " _My parents left me_ _ **again!**_ Those…meanies!" She flopped back down on the mattress and moaned, "They keep _doing_ that… Don't they _want_ me? I have the worst parents ever…" She was rather upset now that she was fully awake; the truth is, the reason her parent's called Mr. Shimomura so early was so they could sneak their daughter out before she was awake enough to be upset. It made them feel guilty. Admittedly, not guilty enough to stop going out for 'alone time' without their daughter, but they still felt bad. In fact, they loved Kairi very much, but they also loved each other. They also happened to be the type of people who feel a strong need to express that love physically…but they had a young daughter with an impressionable mind. They couldn't indulge themselves whenever the urge struck, but restraining themselves all the time stressed them out horribly. The solution they came up with was far from ideal, but it was best they could manage. Unfortunately, this habit had backfired because now their daughter was convinced they hated her; Kairi was a very unhappy little girl. She had curled up on her side and was crying quietly. At least until she heard Mrs. Shimomura calling up the stairs that breakfast was ready. "You can do this, Kairi," she told herself as she crawled out of bed and dried her tears, "Just pretend like normal." She took a deep breath and fixed a bright smile on her face as she headed out of the room.

Mikazuki grinned as everyone arrived in the dining room, "Breakfast today is baked pancakes with fried apples and whipped cream. I made a lot, so I hope everyone's hungry!" Riku stared at his mother, "Um, mom? That's a bit fancy…." "SUGAR," Sora squealed happily. Vanitas buried his face in his hands and sighed, "For the love of Kingdom Hearts why did it have to be sugar…" Kairi blinked in surprise at the unusually large and sugary breakfast, "Wow. Normally I just have a bowl of cereal and a muffin." 'Really sugary cereal,' she admitted to herself, 'and the muffin has a lot of butter. I guess that's not much better.' Touya laughed lightly, "Sometimes Mika just feels the need to spoil her boys. You get used to it." "Dad, I'm still not used to it," Riku said flatly, "And it has been like this my whole life. And I'm five. I don't think I'm getting used to it." "You just have simple tastes, kiddo," his father chuckled, "That's not a bad thing." "Less talking more eating," the dark blue-haired woman proclaimed. "Shouldn't have said that," Vanitas muttered, "Should not have said that." Sora grinned, piled two pancakes on his plate, dumped a huge spoonful of apples on them, and buried both under a heap of whipped cream before he started stuffing his face. The brunette's older brother groaned in frustration, reached out, and grabbed the back of his brother's shirt to pull him back, "Sora! Breathe! I shouldn't have to remind you this often!" "But it's _good_ ," the four-year old whined. "Does _not_ change the fact that you will choke yourself," his brother deadpanned, "I've lost count of how many times Mom and I've told you that." "It is really good, though," Kairi admitted as she took her first bite, "Thank you, Mrs. Shimomura!" "Aw, call me Auntie Mika," the woman beamed. "My mom is crazy," Riku muttered, "And so are my best friends… What does that say about _me_?"

The conversation around breakfast was fairly normal; compliments about the food, people talking about what they were going to do that day, and Vanitas continually reminding Sora to slow down while he was eating. The fact that he pretty much did it without thinking was commented on once by Kairi. The boy ignored her which prompted Riku to explain his younger best friend's careless eating habits, and his older best friend's determination not to lose his younger brother to them. The red-head was impressed by the devotion between the two brothers, particularly after the younger of the two admitted that his brother was always looking out for him. "You must love each other very much," Kairi smiled brightly at the dark-haired boy. "Yeah. We do," Vanitas grunted back shortly. She frowned at the older boy in confusion, 'Is he mad at me? What did I do wrong?' "Vanitas, don't be rude," Touya chided the boy. "Sorry, Uncle Touya," the boy replied dully. Soon after this exchange the last of the pancakes was finished, and Mizazuki stood up. "Well, I've got to clean up. You kids head out into the courtyard and play, alright?" Riku glanced at his best friends, "Sparring?" The response was unanimous, "Sparring." Kairi looked dejected, "I'll just watch…." "You can spar with me if you want," Sora offered. Touya sighed, "You're still a beginner, Sora, but I can show Kairi the basics before I leave for work. Kingdom Hearts knows Riku and Vanitas don't need any more help. I swear they're both naturals…" The little girl looked uncertain for a little bit, 'Mommy and Daddy might not like it…but it's not like they're ever around to notice…" "I'll try it," she decided.

The four children gathered out in the courtyard. Riku and Vanitas both had wooden swords and were already eying each other competitively. Sora had a foam sword and was bouncing up and down eagerly. Touya rolled his eyes at the two older boys as he handed Kairi her own foam sword, "Ignore those two. They have a friendly rivalry that can get a bit out of hand sometimes. They take after me and my cousin _way_ too much…" The red-head held the sword uncertainly in a loose grip, "Am I doing this right?" The Watch Captain grinned and knelt down to help the little girl, "Not quite. You want to hold on to your weapon firmly, so that it can't be knocked out of your hands. Also you want to find a stance that allows you to move easily, and is fairly stable." He then nodded at the two older boys who had already taken up their preferred stances, "They favor variants of the Nightstalker stance. It is ideally suited to fighting styles that strike hard and fast. It relies on evasion for defense." He then gestured to where Sora was swinging his sword around wildly and occasionally overbalancing, "Sora hasn't settled on a stance yet. I'm thinking he'll be best suited to some sort of Horse stance, though. It's a fairly balanced stance that is pretty much average all around." Kairi looked a bit overwhelmed, "That's…a lot…." "You'll pick it up," the man grinned. The girl jumped at the sound of a pair of wild yells and the clash of wood-on-wood. "And there they go," he sighed, "I need to go supervise those two so they don't give each other concussions again." The little red-head suddenly looked worried which prompted him to reassure her, "You and Sora have foam swords. They don't even leave bruises. Just relax and move with your opponent. Think of it like dancing. The two are fairly similar believe it or not. It's all about reading your partner's moves." Kairi nodded thoughtfully, "I've had dance lessons. Okay. I can do this!" "That's the spirit, kiddo," Touya ruffled the little girl's hair, "And remember to have fun."

Sora grinned brightly at Kairi and held his foam sword in a two-handed grip, "This is gonna be fun! I usually have to spar with either Riku or my brother and they always beat me." The little girl frowned in concentration, "I'm not going down that easy! YAH!" She charged forward and swung hard making her opponent yelp; he ducked to avoid the swing and jabbed outward with his sword only to have the girl dance away. "You're fast," the little boy laughed, "Okay then! Try this!" He made three hard swings with his sword that Kairi barely managed to block and evade, but she then countered with a swing to the knees. Sora blocked it and counter-attacked landing a glancing blow on her arm. "I hit you," he crowed happily. "Barely," she shot back with a grin. Her adrenaline was already flowing, and she found she actually liked sparring a lot. 'This is fun,' she realized as she started to dodge and weave to avoid her opponent's strikes, 'This is really fun! I think I like fighting!' She laughed as she finally landed a hit of her own, "Now I've got a hit, Sora!" "I let you hit me," he bluffed with a grin, "This match isn't over yet!" The two four-year olds laughed and continued their bout. Neither noticed that they were rapidly improving their form or technique; to them it was a high energy game about who could land the most hits. Their eyes sparkled as they danced back and forth across their little corner of the courtyard; in spite of the fact that Sora technically had more experience, Kairi was a fast learner and they soon realized they were near equal in skill. "First one to land the next hit wins," the little boy challenged. "You're on," the red-head laughed. This was easily the longest the youngest Yagami had lasted in a match, and the mayor's daughter had honestly never enjoyed herself more. Neither quite realized it, but their little match was laying the foundation for a strong friendship based on mutual respect.

On the other side of the courtyard, Vanitas and Riku were really going at it. The older boy made a quick feint to the left before striking at his opponent's unguarded right side. The silver-haired boy barely managed to dodge the blow, but saw a chance to duck under the taller boy's guard and took it. The golden-eyed boy's eyes narrowed as he danced backwards to get back out of range and raised his sword in a guard stance. The younger boy scowled and took his own guard stance as he looked for any sort of opening. Unfortunately, Vanitas really _was_ a natural; his stance left no gaps in his defense. The same was true for Riku as well. The silver-haired boy decided the only way he was going to land a hit was if he tricked his opponent into lowering his guard. He started to circle around as though he was going to attempt a strike from behind, and his sparring partner shifted his stance to accommodate. The smaller boy's eyes narrowed as he realized that he was going to have to attempt a feint. The boy lunged forwards as though he was making a charge and Vanitas shifted his weight to block the incoming blow…or so he thought. The silver-haired boy smirked and turned his lunge into a forward roll that took him behind his opponent. The black-haired boy cursed as he realized there was no way he would manage to block. Riku's smirk widened as he struck at his opponent's back, "You're mine!" "Not yet," Vanitas murmured as he fell forward and kicked back landing a solid blow to the younger boy's gut. As his partner staggered backward in surprise, the taller boy turned his fall into a handstand; he then spun on his hands and flipped himself back upright so that he was facing Riku once more. Seeing that his opponent's guard was still down, the older boy took the opening and jammed the hilt of his sword into the smaller boy's chest causing him to fall on his back. He then leveled the point of his wooden blade at the younger boy's throat and smirked, "The match is mine."

Riku sighed and let his head fall back, "Aw, man… That means we're tied…" Vanitas lowered his blade and stepped back, "We could go again." The silver-haired boy shook his head, "Nah. After that crazy handspring of yours I need to come up with some new moves of my own." The older boy laughed, "Honestly, I'm not really sure where that came from. I just reacted. That somersault was a good move though. It really surprised me." The younger boy shrugged as he got back to his feet, "It just seemed like the right move to make at the time." Touya stepped forwards and smirked, "You've both got good instincts. Keep improving at this rate and you'll be the best swordsmen in the village by the time you're fifteen." The two boys grinned at each other before turning to Riku's father and bowing, "Thank you, Master Shimomura." The silver-haired man snorted, "Cute, kids. Real cute." Vanitas opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a triumphant whoop from the other end of the courtyard. "I won," Sora had thrown his arms up in the air in elation as he celebrated his first victory ever. "I'll beat you next time," Kairi responded with a grin, "I'm gonna keep practicing!" Riku tilted his head to the side, "I didn't know the mayor's daughter was a fighter." The ebony-haired boy frowned thoughtfully, "Sora's no pushover. If she lasted that long…" Touya laughed, "Kairi had no idea how to even hold a sword earlier. Looks like we've got another natural talent. Better watch out you two." The Watch Captain looked at the two older boys, "I've got to head off to work now. If you kids are going to keep sparring I'll have to ask you two to take a break now and then to coach the younger kids. Vanitas, I'm putting you in charge of spotting Kairi. If she asks you for pointers I want you to be polite and show her what to do. Riku, same situation only your charge is Sora."

Vanitas scowled, "Can't Riku do it? I'd prefer to avoid her if I can…" Touya frowned at the boy, "Now what's gotten into you? The girl's been nothing but polite since she got here." The black-haired boy flinched, "Her parent's hate me. What if she's just trying to lull me into a false sense of security?" Riku sighed, "Do you even realize how crazy that sounds? She's four." The silver-haired man sighed and knelt down to look the golden-eyed boy in the face. "Vanitas," he said seriously, "You're doing to her exactly what the rest of the village does to you. You're judging her without bothering to get to know her." The boy cringed as he realized Riku's father was right about that, but then the man continued, "Furthermore, she very rarely gets to see her parents. They're usually either working or having fun off by themselves. They normally leave her at home with their servants, and she is a very lonely little girl who has never had a friend before in her life." "I see," Vanitas whispered guiltily, "I've been a jerk, huh…" "Look at it this way," Riku pointed out, "If you're really nice to her, and she goes back home to tell her parents about how great you are…" The dark-haired boy smirked, "She'll shove their stupid opinions right back in their faces! Okay, I'll try." Touya shook his head as he stood back up, 'That boy is really vindictive sometimes… Still if it gets him to give her a chance'

Touya had been gone for an hour, and already Vanitas was starting to wonder just what he'd gotten into with his promise to try to be nice to the mayor's daughter. It wasn't that Kairi was doing anything wrong, exactly; instead, the problem lay with the fact that he had seriously underestimated his own paranoia. He just couldn't help being slightly curt and distant. The girl had even flat out asked him why he was mad at her. All he could do was offer the slightly lame response that he wasn't mad just uncomfortable. Then she started to tear up which made him freak out a bit and he started pleading with her not to cry; that it wasn't anything she was doing wrong, and that he just had a hard time dealing with new people. Kairi calmed down after that…but then she started trying to get to know him better. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with that, and basically clammed up. He only responded when she had questions about fighting. Then she caught him off guard with a comment that came seemingly out of nowhere. "I think my parents hate me," she said as he was correcting her grip. The older boy froze and stared at her incredulously before blurting out, "What makes you say that?" Kairi sniffled, "Cause they keep avoiding me. They keep ignoring me, too." Vanitas snorted, "That's not hate. Trust me." "How do you know," the red-head shot back. The black-haired boy's eyes grew distant as he spoke softly, "I know hatred… Too well." He then looked at her seriously, "Hatred is when nothing you do is ever good enough. When the people who should love you only look at you with scorn. When the people who should support and encourage you instead attack and discourage you. Sometimes the attacks are even physical. It is when you judge someone negatively for something they have no control over. Hatred is when they won't even address you by name, and will turn even the nicest people…into complete monsters. Your parents do _not_ hate you. If you really want to know what hatred looks like…ask them what they think about me. Watch their faces. Trust me. You'll see it as plain as day."

Kairi stared at Vanitas with wide eyes, "My parents…hate you? Why? What did you do?" The black-haired boy laughed bitterly, "Nothing. They think I'm a monster. Partly because of my eyes I think, and partly because of gossip…" The little girl frowned, "I don't get it. I think you're eyes are really pretty and sparkly. How does that make you a monster?" The boy rolled his eyes, "No idea. They're just being stupid. Thanks though." The last two words were said very quietly, but Kairi caught them. She grinned happily, "Does that mean we're friends now?" Vanitas blinked and stared, "Uh… I don't… Um… I'm not ready yet?" He trailed off uncertainly and looked away, "Look, I am really not good with trusting new people. Give me a few more months and we'll see." The red-head held out her pinky finger and stared intently, "Pinky promise!" "…..You're not going to let this go are you," the older boy sighed before linking his pinky finger with hers, "Fine, I promise I will _try_ to see you as a friend." "Yay," Kairi cheered happily. 'I think she might actually be more cheerful than Sora,' Vanitas stared at the bouncing red-head, 'What…have I gotten myself into? Light damn it!'

The four kids stopped sparring at noon, and after lunch spent the rest of the day playing normal kid games like tag and hide-and-seek. Kairi split her time between trying to win Vanitas over, and building her friendship with Sora. The two four-year olds just clicked together; Riku also ended up being drawn into the duo and found that he clicked with the new girl as well. Only the oldest of them remained on the fringes. He wasn't jealous of the newly formed trio because he knew full well that the only thing keeping him out was his paranoia. If anything he was happy that his little brother had a new friend. Still, he did manage to warm up to the red-head a little bit. He was still pretty distant, but he didn't ignore her as he had earlier. 'I guess she's not so bad,' he mused, 'I just wish she would back off a bit. She's kind of freaking me out…' Kairi still had a ways to go before Vanitas accepted her entirely, but she made a lot of progress in the course of that one day. When Captain Shimomura came back to take her back home she hugged the dark-haired boy tightly…and he did not push her away. He didn't exactly hug her back, but he did pat her on the head a bit awkwardly. "Bye Sora," she waved as Touya led her away, "Bye Riku! Bye Van!" Sora waved back enthusiastically, "Bye Kairi! Hope to see you soon!" Riku raised a hand coolly, "Later, Kairi!" Vanitas simply huffed and called back, "It's Va-ni-tas! My name is not that hard to say!" She simply giggled and replied, "That's too long! I like Van better!" "Whatever," the black haired boy grumbled before he gave a quick half-wave goodbye.

Touya glanced down at the cheerful little girl, "So did you have a nice day?" Kairi beamed back at the Watch Captain, "The best! I made some new friends, and I'm gonna be Van's friend to one way or the other!" She threw her tiny fist in the air as she made her enthusiastic declaration causing the silver-haired man to laugh lightly. "That's an impressive goal," he smiled down at her, "I wish you luck in achieving it." She nodded sharply before frowning thoughtfully, "He's really nice, but he's hiding himself. I wonder why?" Captain Shimomura cringed; he had his suspicions, and there was no way he was going to risk scarring an innocent little girl. "Who knows," he replied instead, "Vanitas can be a bit of a mystery at times." She hummed thoughtfully, 'A mystery…with beautiful golden eyes.' She really was fascinated by them. She didn't find them scary at all, but maintained what she'd told him earlier. That they were pretty and sparkly…and that they reminded her of the sunrise. " He has dawn eyes," she murmured quietly. The silver-haired man blinked in surprise, 'That's…definitely a new one. I've never thought about it that way, but she has a point.' He smiled softly as he pictured Vanitas' eyes when he was truly happy, 'His eyes do shine like the dawn…'

 **A/N:** Okay, I just realized that so far Riku has the only family that is without any major problems. Kairi's parents are too self-indulgent, and Vanitas' family is, quite frankly, in the process of self-destructing. Seriously, things _will_ _ **not**_ end wellfor the Yagamis. In other news, Vanitas' odd sense of humor makes its first appearance, and Kairi proves to be surprisingly fun to write. She is going to be so badass later on… I have plans! Next chapter things get dark again. Really dark. Unless I wimp out and edit out most of the flashbacks. It'll still be dark, but it'll be less dark. Fair warning: I am a sadist. I enjoy making other people suffer. I get this out in my writing because torture is illegal. Somehow I still have enough of a moral code to recognize that torture is wrong, but it just MAKES ME SO HAPPY! I could repress it, but then I get disturbing dreams. So I write, and vent my urges that way. I tend to focus the most on the characters I like most. Vanitas, Riku, and Roxas are my favorites. I'm mostly focused on Vanitas for this story though. Yeah. Now you know roughly what to expect from me.


	5. Darkness Grows

**A/N:** I…may be a bit too fond of putting the characters I like through physical and emotional hell. Damned sadistic streak. Um, yeah. This is where things get a bit…erm…unpleasant. If you have a problem reading about the attempted murder of a child…yeah, you aren't going to want to read this chapter. You have been warned. Is anyone still here? Wow. Okay, yeah. I kind of enjoyed writing this part a bit more than I thought I would. I think it's because I just _really_ like torturing my favorite characters…..poor Vanitas. Is it weird that I feel guilty over the fact that I enjoy this? WHY IS MY HEAD SO MESSED UP!? Sorry. Starting the chapter now.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That isn't going to change. Only reason I keep doing these is so I don't get sued. Seriously, though, I am never going to be rich enough to own this stuff. Excuse me while I go cry.

Chapter 4: Darkness Grows

The six-year old boy opened his eyes blearily as he regained consciousness. The same sight of the interior of the hall closet greeted him as it had the last year and a half; his father had kicked him out of his old bedroom and forced him to live in there not long after he turned five. It was like something had cracked inside him one day, and he just stopped even pretending for his own family anymore. He still maintained the mask for the rest of the village, but Vanitas knew the truth; his father didn't just hate him. He wanted the boy dead. The black-haired child groaned weakly as he struggled to sit up and rubbed the bruises around his throat. He'd all but given up on defending himself months ago; it never worked, and it only seemed to make Akira even more violent. The only reason he was even hanging on anymore was that the golden-eyed boy wasn't willing to break his promise to Sora: that he would always protect him. He couldn't keep it if he was dead; besides he had reason to be concerned for the younger boy's safety. The five-year old was growing more and more upset by their father's treatment of his older brother. He didn't understand why the man hated the older boy so much even though Vanitas _did_. Mr. Yagami hated the Darkness, and Darkness was all he saw when he looked at his oldest son. Sora was still so innocent, though. The ebony-haired boy worried that one day his little brother would try to stand up for him, and that their father's fury would turn on him as well. 'Not going to happen if I have anything to say about it,' he thought as he dragged himself to his feet, 'No way. I'll kill him myself if that man tries anything.' He opened the door and staggered out of the closet with the intent to make his way to the bathroom; he wanted to at least _attempt_ to treat his injuries. He sighed weakly as he mused, 'He's getting worse though. I'm not sure how much longer I can last…'

Vanitas groaned as he fell heavily against the wall, "Ngh…" "Vanitas," a higher pitched voice gasped worriedly, "Not again…" The injured six-year old looked up, "So…ra…?" His younger brother ran over and slung his arm around his neck, "Hang on. I'll bring you to my room and patch you up. Okay?" "You….shouldn't…. If Akira….catches you….he'll…," the older boy groaned weakly as he tried to pull away, "He'll….punish….you…. Just….leave me…." "Forget it," the younger boy snapped as he dragged his older brother's injured body down the darkened hallway, "This isn't right! He shouldn't hurt you like this!" "No…arguments….there," the injured boy wheezed, "Huh….the lights….are back…. That's….not good…." "Hey, stay awake," Sora started to panic as his older brother started to go limp, "We're almost there." "Trying…," Vanitas whispered faintly, "Unh…" The young brunette reached the door to his room, shoved it open, and dragged his brother over to his bed before struggling to lift him onto the mattress. He ended up rolling him onto the soft surface before diving under his bed to look for the first aid kit he had stashed under there. This was not an easy task since it was late at night, and the only light on was the one next to his bed. His brother didn't even try to move and simply focused on breathing; it wasn't that it was particularly difficult, but the cracked ribs made it hurt like hell. Finally, Sora dug out the box and laid it next to his injured sibling, "Okay, where does it hurt the most?" Dulled golden-yellow eyes slid closed as he responded weakly, "Everywhere… It was…worse….than usual…this time… I can…still….taste the….blood…" "I can get you a glass of water it that'd help," the younger boy offered desperately. "No…," Vanitas whispered faintly, "I mostly….just need…to rest….and heal…. It'll….take longer….this…time….though…." He then went fully limp as he passed out with a faint moan. Sora swallowed hard as he ran his eyes over the deep bruises that covered his brother's exposed skin, the stream of blood flowing down from his hairline, his swollen left wrist, and the sluggishly bleeding gash on his side. "This isn't right," he whispered and got to work treating the injuries he could see. He was far more experienced at such an act than any five year old should be. Still, the younger boy refused to just let his brother suffer without trying to help.

Akira Yagami's treatment of his oldest son had always been harsh; originally it was just because, as he told himself, he was trying to train the boy to reject the Darkness. But after Vanitas turned five, and the Darkness in him only got stronger, the man started to give up hope of ever 'fixing' his son. Unfortunately, the man did not handle failure very well and his resentment of the boy's innate Darkness turned to flat out loathing. The hatred overwhelmed him to the point that he stopped bothering to restrain his 'punishments' only to when he caught the boy, or suspected him of, using his abilities. Now he attacked his son simply because he was still breathing and would later justify it to himself with any one of a number of excuses. He'd write it off as him simply having a bad day, something breaking on the farm, one of the animals being injured, the boy looking at him funny, or his old fall back of 'I caught him/ think he was using the Darkness'. His wife had long been indifferent to his treatment of their first-born, but even she was starting to grow concerned with his sudden viciousness. Sure, she didn't like the boy very much, but she didn't want him to die; he was still her son, and part of her loved him in spite of what he was capable of. In response, Kyoko Yagami tried to compensate by being nicer to the older boy. Furthermore, she was fully aware of Sora's attempts to help his brother and started finding small ways to assist _without_ alerting Akira to her intents. She would try to distract her husband between beatings long enough for her youngest son to find Vanitas and move him to safety. She would ensure that the first aid kit he hid in his room was fully stocked with creams, disinfectants, and bandages. Sometimes she would even go so far as to interrupt her husband mid-assault and ask him to help her with something while feigning ignorance that he was in the middle of, once again, trying to kill their son; that was what had put an end to the most recent incident.

Another thing that was limiting the damage of Akira Yagami's assaults was how Vanitas' innate powers responded to threats. The Darkness in him would lash out in the form of unfocused energy blasts whenever he started to succumb to an attack. The outbursts were so strong that they slammed the man into the walls hard enough to knock him out. Unfortunately, this only made his hatred increase and caused him to grow even more violent. It was a vicious circle. The man would attack his son, the boy would start to lose consciousness, the Darkness would lash out, the man would be knocked out by the force of the blow, the boy would pass out from his injuries and be rescued by his little brother, and the man would wake up again even angrier than before….then try to seek his son out in order to find a new means of finishing the job. So far he has attempted strangling the boy, beating him with miscellaneous farm tools (including a shovel), burning him, stabbing and slicing him, and numerous combinations of the aforementioned approaches. Vanitas survived and recovered from all of them, though he was left with numerous scars all over his body from the incidents. The sad thing was that the boy was so used to his father hating him that the abuse no longer left emotional scars. In truth, the black-haired boy loathed his father just as much as the man loathed him. Normally, the hatred would feed his Darkness and make it even stronger, but his will to live was failing. He had been in pain for so long that even death seemed like an improvement. Yet, in spite of his growing desire for the pain to simply _end_ , he was still not willing to die. He had several reasons; most of which revolved around his younger brother in some shape or form. However, Vanitas _had_ stopped fighting back and passively accepted the abuse; this had caused the Darkness to start to weaken as well. Akira had noticed this growing vulnerability…and fully intended to take advantage of it the first chance he got.

Vanitas didn't regain consciousness until around noon the next day. His eyes fluttered open slowly and he flinched as the light hit them. "Too bright," he groaned weakly, and the Darkness responded swiftly by coating the window in a thin film of dark purple mist. He glanced down at his body and was not particularly surprised to see that, once again, Sora had gone overboard with the bandages. He sighed and started to undo them; it wasn't as though he needed them anymore. His injuries were healed enough, though his ribs still ached terribly. "Why is it always the ribs," he grumbled as he tossed the soiled roll of bandages aside. He flexed his left wrist tentatively and was relieved to find it had healed normally. Next he checked his side and found only a faint scar where the gash had been. Them he ran a hand across his temple to find another faint scar partially covered by his hair. Finally, he pressed lightly on his ribs and was satisfied when they remained firm; the cracks had healed which meant that the lingering pain was simply due to bruising. That would be gone in another couple of hours. Vanitas sighed and stretched as he swung his legs over the side of his brother's bed. 'I end up in this thing often enough,' he mused as he slipped out of his brother's room and made his way back to his closet for some new clothes, 'that it may as well be _my_ bed.' The six year old arrived at his current 'bedroom' without encountering anyone, and headed in to try and find something intact to wear. Most of his clothing was in shreds due to past beatings, and he was usually too busy trying to avoid his father in order to get them patched. His current outfit was no exception to this trend and, adding to his annoyance, it was also stained in his blood. "I am so fucking _sick_ ," he grumbled quietly as he hunted through his pile of clean clothes, "of being covered in blood like this."

Vanitas poked his head out of the closet cautiously once he finished getting dressed and looked around. 'I don't see him,' he chewed his lip as he thought, 'but that doesn't mean he's not nearby. Damn it! Maybe I should just stay in here today… I do _not_ want to be used as a punching bag again. Then again…it is _really_ boring in here.' He sighed tiredly, "Screw it. I'm not going to win either way. May as well chose the option where I'm not bored…" The boy stepped out into the hall and crept over to the living room where he paused outside the door and peered through warily. Sora was sitting in the middle of the floor playing with his toy blocks. He was about to head in when he heard his mother's voice coming from the kitchen, "Sora, I'm going to be heading into town for a bit. Keep out of your father's way, alright?" Vanitas froze as he realized he and his brother were going to be left alone with their father for the afternoon. 'This is it,' he thought calmly, 'I'm dead. He's not going to let a chance like this pass him by.' He stood silently as his mother walked through the living room and paused to ruffle his little brother's hair before heading out the door. 'I'm never going to see her again,' he swallowed hard as he watched her leave, 'She'd almost been treating me like a son lately… Was she starting to accept me? I'll never get the chance to know now… I don't want to die.' His breath caught in his throat on that last thought, 'I don't want to die. I'm only six. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I DON'T WANT TO DIE!' He slowly backed down the hallway intending fully to return to his closet and hide when he ran into something…or rather someone. A heavy hand landed on his head and the boy closed his eyes in despair as his father's voice growled, "Hello, boy." That was the last thing he heard before something heavy slammed into his skull and everything went black.

'I am getting really tired of passing out and waking up again,' the thought flashed through Vanitas'mind as his awareness returned, 'Oh, my head…' He tried to bring a hand up to his head to rub the pain away, but suddenly realized he couldn't move either one. His eyes snapped open and he started to struggle as he realized he was tied up. He looked around and realized that he was lying in front of the well in the back yard and that his wrists were tied firmly to the bucket lying on the ground behind him. His eyes widened as he realized that the bucket was full of large rocks and a chill went through him as he suddenly understood what fate awaited him. "He's going to drown me," he whispered in horror. "Indeed I am," Akira Yagami stood over his son's bound form, "That wretched power of yours won't be able to save you this time." The boy swallowed hard before he spoke in an even tone, "If you're expecting me to beg for my life you can forget it." "Defiant to the last," the man sneered, "I expected no more from a monster like you." " _You're_ the one who's murdering a six-year old boy," Vanitas shot back coldly, " _I_ never harmed anyone. Who's the _real_ monster here? Because I _don't_ think it's me." His father's face contorted into a look of pure hatred, "Shut up! It was you who drove me to this! You and your infernal powers!" "I did _nothing_ ," the boy hissed. "You were born," the man retorted. The bound child closed his eyes and sighed, "Then maybe you should have killed me then. It would have been kinder to Sora." "Do _not_ ," the man hissed, "talk about my _son_!" "He loves me, you know," the boy continued quietly, "How do you think he'll feel once he learns of my death? Once he learns _you_ killed me?" "Shut up," Akira snarled. "He'll hate you," Vanitas whispered menacingly as he glared up at his father, "And you'll have lost _both_ of your sons through no one's fault but your own. I hope you're happy, you bastard." "Shut UP AND DIE," the man roared as he grabbed the bucket and threw it, and the child tied to it, down the well. The boy only closed his eyes and went limp as he fell, 'At least the pain will stop now…'

Sora had been playing with his blocks when he felt a sudden surge of fear lance through his Heart. He froze and looked up, "Vanitas? Not again!" The five-year old got up and started to look around the house, but found no sign of either his brother or his father. "Maybe they're outside," he mused and headed for the back door in the kitchen. He just reached the door when he heard his father yell angrily, "Shut UP AND DIE!" The little boy panicked and threw the door open just in time to see his older brother disappear into the well. "NO! VANITAS," the boy cried as he ran over to the well only to be grabbed by his father, "LET ME GO! LET GO! VANITAS!" "Enough, Sora," Akira frowned at his youngest, "I'm doing this for all of us. That monster had to be destroyed before he corrupted all of us." "YOU'RE THE MONSTER," Sora screamed as he flailed around trying to get free. His father's anger surged and he smacked his son across the face causing the boy to yelp in pain and shock. The man shoved the five-year old away from the well making him stumble and fall over backwards as he looked up at his father in sudden fear. "I," the man's voice was eerily calm, "am no monster. I saved us from the monster, don't you see? Everything will be better now." Sora scowled at his father and whispered, "I hate you." "What was that," Akira's voice dropped dangerously low. "I SAID I HATE YOU," Sora shouted back angrily. The man's face contorted in anger and he moved towards his youngest son menacingly.

Vanitas hit the water with a mighty splash as he heard Sora scream his name. 'Sora,' he thought as he sank, 'I'm sorry… I never wanted to leave you like this… Please don't forget me…' He sank even deeper and opened his eyes to look back up at the surface, 'I didn't want to die… So why am I so calm now…?' He heard his brother's voice again and the sinking boy frowned, 'Did Sora….just call Akira a monster? That idiot! He's gonna get himself killed!' He started to struggle to escape his bonds as his lungs started to ache for air, 'Dammit, I can't let Sora get hurt! I promised! I _refuse_ to break my word!' A look of pure fury crossed his face as he heard his brother's cry of pain and yelled, "DARKNESS GIVE ME STRENGTH!" The Darkness in him responded with a will, as he struggled to resist the impulse to inhale, and saturated every muscle in his body. The boy wrenched his wrists again and the ropes snapped allowing him to swim to the surface. "You won't hurt my brother," he gasped as he broke the surface. He grabbed onto the rope and pulled himself out of the water before twisting his body around to launch at the wall. He crouched upon landing and launched himself up higher effectively ricocheting off of the inside of the well; he continued the process all the way up to the top where he flipped over the rim and landed on the ground. He saw his father looming over his younger brother and snarled viciously before racing forward in a blur. He skidded to a halt in front of Sora, reached out, and grabbed his father's wrist in a bone crushing grip. "You will _not_ lay a hand on Sora," he growled menacingly, "If I _EVER_ catch you even _looking_ at him the wrong way again I will _kill you_." The man paled partially from the shock of seeing the boy he thought he'd gotten rid of and partially from the fact that his wrist was in agony, "How are you….?" "Still alive," Vanitas finished with a cruel smile, "You underestimated the Darkness….and how far I'm willing to go for my brother."

He tightened his grip causing the bones under his hand to shatter before letting his father go; the man fell to his knees and clutched at his broken wrist as he stared at his oldest son in naked fear. "I'll make you a deal," the boy said coldly, "You can do whatever you want to me. I don't care anymore, and it's not as though the Darkness will let me die so easily. But _never_ lay a hand on Sora again." He then turned around and held his hand out to Sora, "Come on, squirt. Let's head back inside. I need to get out of these wet clothes anyways." The stunned five-year old blinked before he broke out into a wide grin and tackle-hugged his older brother. "YOU'RE OKAY," he cried happily, "I thought I'd lost you." Vanitas smirked and ruffled his younger brother's hair, "I'm not that easy to kill." The taller boy gently unwrapped his brother's arms from around his waist and grabbed his hand, "You realize that now we _both_ need dry clothes." He grinned at his younger brother and was gratified to receive a matching grin as both boys headed back towards the house leaving the man they once called 'father' behind. Akira Yagami stared after them as his hatred grew. "I have no son," he growled, "That monster took him from me. I see now that the only way to save my family…is to kill them both…" Madness flickered briefly across his gaze before he staggered to his feet and headed for the barn to bind his wrist.

Vanitas stood in the bathroom with a towel around his waist as he dried his hair. "Vanitas," Sora called from outside the room, "I got you some dry clothes." "Okay," the older boy called back, "I'll be right out." He pulled the towel off his head and glanced at his reflection in the mirror before he did a sudden double take. "What the…," he murmured, "How did that happen?" He had always been fairly fit considering he lived on a farm, but it had always been lean and wiry muscle that didn't really show. Now, while they were far from huge, his muscles were firmer and clearly defined; he turned and twisted to get a better look at the changes his body had endured. 'I wonder if it's because I called on the Darkness,' he wondered as he flexed an arm idly, 'I didn't think it would change my body like this, though… This is going to be really awkward to explain if it's permanent…' Vanitas sighed and facepalmed, "I really hope my clothes still fit. Man, Sora is going to have _so_ many questions. Ugh…" The black-haired boy sighed again and opened the door only to find that his brother had left his clothes sitting on the floor. "That works," he smirked as he grabbed the dry clothing and shut the door again to get dressed. Fortunately, his clothes did, indeed, still fit; they were a bit snug, though. "Stupid muscles," he grumbled as he realized they still showed through, "Mom is not going to be happy…"

The two brothers reunited again in the living room. "Why are your clothes all tight," Sora asked curiously, "They weren't like that yesterday." Vanitas sighed and explained, briefly, what he had done in order to escape the well and the discovery he'd made in the mirror. "I think calling the Darkness the way I did changed me permanently," he frowned as he prodded the muscles in his arm. "What is the Darkness," the younger boy asked next, "You keep mentioning it, but I have no idea what it is." The older boy held out a hand and channeled his power into it causing a dark purplish-black aura to appear around it. "The Darkness," he explained, "is an energy I can call upon. It lives in my Heart and can do all sorts of things with it. It makes me move really fast, makes me stronger, I can use it to block out the sun when it's too bright, I can make myself really quiet, and I can create shields and energy blasts with it. At least, that's what I've worked out so far. I've only been able to actively call on it for four years, now. I'm still learning all that I can do," the boy paused and sighed before continuing, "Akira is convinced that it's evil, but it only causes harm when I want it to or when I'm threatened. Otherwise it's just there. It's why he calls me a monster, though." He then dispelled the Dark Aura around his hand before he looked at his little brother, "So now you know why Akira hates me. I'm pretty sure I was born with this power, though, so it's really not my fault that I have it." Sora stared at his brother before he abruptly grinned, "That's how you got us away from that falling log, isn't it?" Vanitas nodded, "Yeah. I pretty much only use it when I really need to." "Why," Sora was confused, "I think it's really cool! I'd use it all the time if I had a power like that."

The older boy held up three fingers, "Three reasons why I don't. Number three, Akira tended to beat me every time he caught me, or suspected me of, using it. I don't like being in pain, so I try not to call on it if I can avoid it. Two," he lowered one finger, "it tends to tire me out if I use too much power at once. I can use a lot more now than I could initially, so I think it's mostly because I'm still young. And my number one reason," the boy held up the last finger, "is that the Darkness is dangerous. I'm pretty sure I could kill someone if I'm not careful. I have to maintain control at all times." "But you never have as far as I know," the five year old retorted. Vanitas shook his head, "It's instinct. One of the perks so far is that I always know exactly where my limits are. The downside is that I also am well aware of the fact that I _will_ level the entire farm if I lose it. Not taking that chance." The older boy sighed and closed his eyes, "Besides…I really don't _want_ to kill anyone. Not even Akira." Sora frowned, "But you said you would earlier." "And I will if I have to," the black-haired boy replied, "Doesn't mean I have to enjoy it. I like to fight…but I don't think I want to like killing. That really _would_ make me a monster…" The boy trailed off and shuddered before he continued quietly, "Sometimes I'm afraid of myself, Sora. Of what I can do, and of how angry I get sometimes. I scared myself earlier out back, but I couldn't show it. Not if I wanted Akira to leave you alone. He had to believe I would really kill him if pushed too far… He wouldn't have backed down if he saw I was afraid too… It would have been a sign of weakness and I _can't_ afford to be weak. Not now…" He closed his eyes and whispered, "Now that I've officially challenged him…I have to embrace that side of me… It's the only way…" Sora tilted his head in confusion as he stared at his brother, "The only way what? I don't get it." Vanitas opened his eyes and met his little brother's gaze as he smiled softly, "The only way I can keep my promise to always protect you."

When Kyoko returned it was to an oddly tense household. Her two sons were on one side of the living room glaring viciously at her husband who was nursing his right wrist. "I…don't want to know what happened today, do I," she commented wryly. "Oh, Akira just tried to kill me again," Vanitas replied lightly, "Also I broke his wrist when he tried to hit Sora. Poor kid caught him trying to drown me and was understandably upset. Oh, and apparently channeling the Darkness through my body does things to my muscles. They're really visible now, and a lot firmer. They don't seem to want to go back to normal. We might need to fix my clothes so that they aren't so noticeable. Other than that it was a pretty normal day." The woman stared at her eldest son and blinked as she absorbed what he said. "You broke your father's wrist," was the only thing she could grasp enough to comment on. "I squeezed it really hard," the boy smirked, "Payback is a bitch isn't it, Akira?" She was a bit taken aback by the openly mocking hostility the boy displayed towards his father. He'd spent the past four years as a fairly meek and obedient boy, so the sudden change to open aggression and confidence was a bit jarring. "Akira's a meanie," Sora pouted angrily, "I hate him." Kyoko was startled by her youngest son's attitude, but had a much easier time grasping where he was coming from. The little boy absolutely adored his older brother, and seeing his father blatantly attempt to kill him… The boy would have had to choose between the two, and he had always been closer to his brother than his father. "I shouldn't have left," she muttered tiredly as she glanced warily at her husband. She could almost see the anger radiating off of him as he glared back at the boys. She walked over and reached for his wrist to check it; he ignored her entirely. She sighed, "That's broken alright. I'll have to call Baba to come out and treat it." "Tomorrow," Akira finally spoke curtly, "It won't kill it to wait a day." "Needs time to come up with a lie," Sora whispered to his older brother. Vanitas laughed wildly at that; it was a laugh that sent chills down both adult's spines for there was a dark, manic edge to it. "Yeah, probably," the older boy responded, "I'm heading to bed. Coming, Sora?" "Yeah," the younger boy chirped, "Night, Mommy!" Kyoko closed her eyes and sighed; she had a bad feeling that things were going to get a lot worse before the end…whatever it may be. She only hoped that her boys would come out alright.

 **A/N:** I ultimately decided to edit out the actual beatings. Seeing the aftermath was probably bad enough. Besides….some of the mental images I had were pretty graphic. They would easily bump this story up to an 'M' rating. Right now I'm pretty sure it's still a 'T' if a high 'T'. Next chapter (unless I change my mind and put it off another chapter), though. Um….attempted murder-suicide. That's an 'M' rating right there because people are going to die. And they won't be nice deaths. I _said_ I had dark and twisted imagination; look at what I'm putting these poor innocent kids through. I promise I'll give them a break for a while after the first climax! I don't want them to completely shattered wrecks….just a bit traumatized. Sora, being who he is, is gonna bounce back pretty well. Vanitas…..e-e-e-e-eh, yeah he's kind of going to be broken. He's not really going to get better until towards the end of the last book… So he has four more books of life basically sucking to get through. This is how you can tell that I like a character; I make their lives utterly miserable when I write for them. Also, in case you were wondering about Vanitas' build… Before the Darkness surge he had the build you would expect a six-year old who does normal farm chores would have. Afterwards…he's a little bulkier, but he's far from being what you would call ripped. Basically, the muscle is defined and visible, but is still lean and wiry. Think more Cloud than Barret. He's going to end up with the physique implied by his in-game bodysuit as a teenager, so you can count on him staying pretty lean. See you next chapter!


	6. Peaceful Days

**A/N:** Okay, I changed my mind. I'm putting off the murder-suicide chapter till next time and sticking in a relatively light-hearted one. Basically, it's pure friendship fluff with Riku and Kairi. I figure I should break up the dark stuff with moments of relative happiness. Besides, I don't want Vanitas to be broken to the point that he can't care about anybody _at all_ ; just enough that it's a struggle sometimes. Particularly if he doesn't know them. It's a balancing act. Since my own capacity to care is pretty badly crippled due to years of psychological torture (that's what bullying is people. Don't pretend it isn't) from kindergarten through high-school I'm using that as a guideline. His life is _way_ worse than mine ever was, though. That's what makes it tricky. I know _my_ breaking point…I'm still working out what Vanitas' is. Ah, psychology… Pretty sure he's stronger than me, though. I would never have lasted as long as he has…

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. I wish I had that kind of money, but I do not. And considering that I am unlikely to finish college before I am forty at the rate I am going….. I never will have that kind of money. This is pure fan-work. If the actual owners want to use what I have written though…not gonna complain.

Chapter 5: Peaceful Days

It was a fairly normal day in the Shimomura household. Touya was out on a call to deal with a suspected theft out on one of the nearer farms; he wasn't too concerned as this particular farm made crime reports once a week and the culprit _always_ turned out to be the family goat. "I swear that animal has a bottomless pit as a stomach," the man muttered as he left home that morning, "Why they even allow it indoors is beyond me." Riku was out in the courtyard practicing his sword forms; Vanitas was currently held the lead in sparring match victories, and the younger boy was determined to change that. Mikazuki was in the kitchen with one of the maids gossiping as they did the dishes. "I don't even know why you have servants, mistress," the maid, Emiko, laughed lightly, "Considering how often you pitch in on the cleaning." The amber-eyed woman tapped her chin in mock thought and slowly replied, "Partially to keep up appearances. We _are_ one of the wealthiest families in town… And partially because I could never keep this entire house clean on my own. It's just so big! I really do need the extra help just to keep ahead! Also, just Mika is fine." The elderly maid laughed again as she placed a stack of clean plates in their cabinet, "Well I, for one, quite enjoy working here. You know you've found a good employer when they treat you more like friends than furniture. I've worked for both types, and I must say I greatly prefer the former." The two women would have continued, but were interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Mikazuki sighed and nodded to her companion, "Always when you're in the middle of something… I'm sorry, but I have to get that. I'll be right back." Emiko waved off her employer, "Think nothing of it, Mistress Mika. The dishes aren't going anywhere." "It's just Mika," the other woman sighed exasperatedly. The maid chuckled heartily as Mrs. Shimomura sulked into the other room; she knew her habit of using formal titles was intensely frustrating for the family she worked for, but their reactions were just so enjoyable she couldn't help herself. 'I know I shouldn't tease them so,' she thought to herself, 'But you get so few opportunities for fun at my age!'

Mikazuki reached the phone in the living room on the fifth ring and picked it up with an annoyed sigh. "Hello. This is the Shimomura residence," she greeted with forced politeness, "Who may I ask is calling?" "Mika," a worried woman's voice came over the line, "It's Kyoko. I have a favor to ask." The dark blue-haired woman blinked, "Kyoko? What's wrong, dear?" Kyoko sighed, "So far nothing, but that's part of why I want to ask the favor. I need you to take the boys for a couple of weeks; please don't ask why. It's…complicated." The other woman frowned, "Of course, we would be happy to have the boys over. Are you sure you're alright, though? You sound exhausted." "It's nothing," came the response, "Things have just been very stressful lately. It will get better if we all have a bit of a break from each other, I'm sure. I'll be bringing my sons over this afternoon. Is that okay with you?" "So soon? I wasn't expecting that," Mikazuki replied as she blinked in surprise, "It's fine though. I'll just need to adjust dinner plans a bit. I'll see you then." "Thank you," the other woman said with a relieved sigh, "Goodbye, Mika." "Goodbye," the other woman replied before she was cut off by the dial tone. She stared at the phone in her hand in confusion before shaking her head. "It is strange though," she murmured, "I swear those boys have spent more time with us these past two years than they have at home." She sighed and headed back into the kitchen to at least try to finish the dishes before her guests arrived.

Touya Shimomura sighed as he dropped his head onto his desk; it had, indeed, been the goat again. Then, on his way back to the watch house, he had been stopped by the mayor and guilted into looking after Kairi for a week while he and his wife were out of town. "Why did I choose the Watch over the Guard again," he groaned quietly, "At least then I wouldn't have to deal with as much random stupid." "Nah," came a quip from one of his watchmen, "Then you'd have to deal with official stupid instead!" "Thank you, Keiji," the Captain responded drily, "For that helpful reminder." He then sighed, "Guess I should give Mika a head's up that we're going to have an extra mouth to feed this week." He reached out for the phone on his desk, sat back up, and dialed his home phone before waiting on his wife to answer. "Hello. This is the Shimomura residence," his wife responded in a tone of strained formality, "Who may I ask is calling?" "Rough morning, love," he asked lightly. "You are the second person to interrupt my cleaning, Touya," Mikazuki responded flatly, "I'm not going to finish before the Yagamis arrive at this rate." Touya blinked, "Since when are the Yagamis coming over? Akira never mentioned that the last time we spoke." "It's just Kyoko actually. She's going to be leaving the boys with us for two weeks," she clarified, "Apparently things are tense out at the farm right now for some reason. I'm starting to get worried about her. She sounds as though she's about to break…" 'She's not the one I'm worried about breaking,' the Watch Captain thought with a scowl, 'My cousin might not have done anything criminal yet, but he is growing far too unstable.' "So we're going to be having the boys over too, huh," he mused out loud. "What do you mean 'too'," his wife asked warily. "We're going to be looking after Kairi for a week," Touya replied, "The mayor guilted me into it. It's why I called in the first place." Mikazuki squealed, "She's so cute! But that means I have to adjust dinner plans _again_ … Well, thanks for telling me ahead of time. I still have cleaning to do, though, so I'm going to have to hang up now. Bye, dear." "Bye, love," her husband replied before hanging up the phone. He frowned in concertation, 'I have a bad feeling about this. At least the boys are going to be well out of it for a while…but that might not be enough… Akira…what is _wrong_ with you?'

Kairi grinned happily as her family's steward, Makoto Tanaka, parked his little motor-cart in front of the Shimomura's. "I get to spar with Riku again," she whispered giddily. "Did you say something, Mistress," the elderly man glanced back at his charge. "No sir," she chirped. The older man smiled gently at his employers' daughter as he reached back to help her unfasten her safety harness. "Are you lying to me , little miss," he asked with a twinkle of humor. "I'm just excited to see my friend again," the seven-year old answered sheepishly, "Sorry…" "I completely understand," Makoto assured her as he turned to get out of his cart. He held out a hand to help the young girl exit his cobbled together little vehicle; he'd built it from spare parts himself when he was a young man. It wasn't the prettiest looking thing ever, but it ran like a dream…for short distances. It was really only good for short trips around the village; fortunately, the drive between the mayor's house and the Shimomura's was _very_ short indeed. Well within walking distance, in fact; Kairi loved the little vehicle, though, and found every excuse to beg a ride. The elderly steward was immensely fond of the little girl, and was more than happy to indulge her; he treated her like his own grandchild, really. "I hope you have a good time this week," the old man commented wistfully as he grabbed her bags. "I always do," the little girl chirped as she walked over to the front gate. 'Maybe Van and Sora will show up this week,' she thought to herself, 'I hope they do. I have some new moves I wanna try out on them both…'

Sora grinned eagerly as his mother parked the wagon by the side of the road, "And we really get to stay for two weeks?" Mrs. Yagami nodded tiredly, "That's right. Hopefully that'll be enough time…" She whispered the last bit nervously and, while it escaped the notice of her youngest, her eldest son rolled his eyes. Vanitas knew full well what it would take for the situation at the farm to improve, and he refused to allow it. "You realize Akira won't be happy until I'm dead," he said drily. "I keep hoping he'll come around though," his mother moaned, "I may not like," she glanced back at the older boy, "your powers, but that doesn't mean I want you dead. I've _never_ wanted that…" The older boy's eyes softened and he reached forward to hug his mother, "And that's why I still consider you family." The woman sighed sadly, but leaned into the hug, "I love you too, Vanitas…" In the two years since Vanitas embraced his powers, the relationship between Akira and his two sons had only gotten worse. Kyoko was genuinely struggling to hold things together, but she finally recognized that the bulk of their problems lay with her husband. More often than not, now, she supported her sons which only fed his growing instability. He was rapidly descending into madness and she knew it. It had gotten so bad that the only way she felt she could protect her children was to send them to stay with their godparents. At least they were safe there; however, for the sake of preserving the strained illusion that their family was _not_ falling apart, she couldn't let them stay away indefinitely. Her husband would demand that she bring them back – so as not to invite suspicion – and she lacked the willpower to deny him. He'd never hurt _her_ …yet, but she was still uncertain about where she stood these days. She was proud of Vanitas, though. Between the raw power at his disposal and the great lengths he was willing to go to in order to protect his little brother she was reassured that, even if the worst happened, her sons would survive… It had enabled her to, at least partially, reconcile with her eldest son, and she was happy that he didn't hate her in spite of her borderline neglect. As he'd put it, "I was sad because I thought _you_ hated _me_ , but you were never cruel like Akira. I never had a reason to hate you, so I don't."

Kairi tried to run over to answer to the door in order to answer it when she heard a knock, but the Shimomura's butler, Hiroshi, beat her to it. "Please allow me to do my job, little miss," the young man chided her before he opened the door. Mrs. Yagami offered him a weak smile, "Mr. Sato. It's good to see you again." The blonde youth offered a formal bow, "Likewise, Madam Yagami. Allow me to take the boy's bags for you. I'm sure Mrs. Shimomura would love the chance to speak with you." The exhausted woman shook her head, "I would love to, but I can't. I only have enough time to drop off the boys. I really must return home." The man bowed again, "I understand. I wish you safe travels then." Kyoko nodded and handed over her son's bags before she stepped to the side allowing her sons to pass. Sora's eyes lit up upon seeing Kairi standing by the butler's side, "KAIRI'S HERE!" He ran forward and tackle-hugged his friend; she laughed and hugged him back. "SORA'S HERE," she squealed happily, "VAN'S HERE!" "You're never going to stop using that nickname, are you," Vanitas smirked as he walked forwards. "Nope," she chirped back. He sighed melodramatically, "Guess I'll just have to stop hating it, then…" "No fair," she complained, "It's no fun if it doesn't bug you!" "That's the point," the smirk returned. Mrs. Yagami shook her head at her oldest son's deviousness, but smiled; she'd never fully realized just how unnatural his behavior was at home. In spite of his looks and abilities, deep down he was a regular little boy; she just wished it hadn't taken her so long to realize that. "Have fun," she whispered softly. Vanitas looked back at her and smiled faintly before mouthing back, "We will." She then turned and left, but turned back at the gates and smiled sadly as she watched her sons head indoors before continuing on her way.

Vanitas had accepted Kairi as a friend roughly a year after meeting her. Her method of finally winning him over was rather unusual…but made sense considering who she was targeting. She challenged him to a sparring match and lasted a full hour before she lost. The boy was impressed; the fact that she'd put her whole heart into the match also helped. He figured that anyone who fought as honestly as she did was most likely trustworthy. They got along fairly well, though they weren't as close as she and Sora were, but there was one thing that still got on his nerves: that stupid nickname. She _would not_ stop calling him 'Van' and it drove him up a wall. He was perfectly fine with his brother calling him 'Vani'; his name was _not_ easy for a toddler who'd just learned to speak to say. Besides, his little brother had long since abandoned his old nickname. Kairi had no excuse for not using his name, though. She'd slipped up and called him by his full name several times, so he knew she had no problem pronouncing it. It drove him up a wall, and she knew it. It was mutually acknowledged that the only reason she kept the nickname, now, was that she _knew_ that he hated it. That was pretty much the only problem they still had, and Vanitas had already decided on a solution; he'd just stop reacting to the nickname. She'd lose interest after a while, and then stop using it meaning he would have won. Aside from that little hiccup, the friendship of the four children was really solid. Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Vanitas were utterly inseparable.

Mikazuki had emerged from the kitchen when she heard Sora and Kairi greet each other, and was leaning against the wall grinning brightly. "Sora! Vanitas! It's good to see you boys again," she greeted. "Aunt Mika," the brunette's eyes brightened, "Where's Riku?" Riku's mother laughed, "He's out in the courtyard training, as usual. That boy is bound and determined to beat you next time, Vanitas." "He can _try_ ," the older boy smirked devilishly. "All I ask is that you hold off on sparring until, Touya gets home," the amber-eyed woman requested. The red-head frowned thoughtfully, "So what can we do instead…" Hiroshi interjected at this point, "The ballroom floor was recently waxed…" "SOCK SKATING," Sora proclaimed jovially. The butler smiled and walked off to put the boy's bags away; his work here was done. Mikazuki glared after her mischievous employee, 'After all the time the maids and I put into that project… No Christmas tip for _him_ this year!' "Why don't you grab Riku and ask him what he wants to do," she suggested as she struggled to suppress an eye twitch. The three children chorused back, "Okay, Aunt Mika!" They then ran for the courtyard entrance to grab the final member of their quartet.

Riku was practicing his footwork when he was suddenly knocked over by two high speed, seven-year old missiles; he yelped as he fell flat on his face. "Hm," came a mocking voice, "I'm not seeing how falling on your face is going to help you pull ahead. You might want to try another approach." The silver-haired boy glared up into his older best friend's smirking face and growled, "Not. Funny." The younger boy had put serious effort into his training after Vanitas showed up one day in suddenly much better physical condition. The older boy had written off his sudden increase in muscle definition as being due to an unusually intense week of chores on the farm. Riku doubted it, but refused to be left behind. Through sheer effort he had managed to build his own physique to match his older friend; their sparring matches had gotten a lot more damaging as a result. It had gotten to the point that Touya had coated their training blades in foam in an effort to reduce the number of trips to the healer's; they tended to break pure foam blades. For the record, the attempt was only marginally effective. They had fewer _broken_ bones, but the number of _fractures_ remained pretty much the same. Kairi and Sora both released the silver-haired boy and stood back up allowing their friend to get back to his feet. "Loser," the older boy teased. "Jerk," Riku retorted. "Old man." "Fluff-head." "Muscle-head." "Takes one to know one." The two boys smirked at each other and did their normal arm-bump greeting. "So your mom said we couldn't spar until your dad got back," Vanitas said finally, "Got any other ideas of what we can do? Sora suggested sock skating in the ballroom." The aqua-eyed boy shook his head, "I'm pretty sure the maids would kill us if we messed up their wax job. I did get a new video game for my birthday, though. We could play that." "It's multiplayer," Kairi asked curiously. "Yep, it's an adventure-style role playing game," he replied, "We pick a character, a class, and form a party to save the world."

The black-haired boy raised his hand, "I call Dark Knight." Sora gave his brother a flat look, "Really? You're going with that?" "It fits," Vanitas responded evenly. The youngest boy sighed, "I guess I'll be a Paladin in order to balance him," he pointed to his older sibling, "out." "Battlemage," the red-head grinned evilly, "I want to rain arcane ruin down on my enemies." The three boys all took one large step back from their female friend. "Sometimes," Riku admitted, "You frighten me, Kairi. I guess I'll be a Thief or a Ninja then. Let's go to my room in order to get things set up." The four children headed off for the silver-haired boy's room talking eagerly about video games in general. Vanitas stated that he was partial to fighting games. The sole female admitted that she had a fondness for puzzle-solving games. Sora loudly proclaimed that he loved every video game he had ever played, but couldn't afford any of his own. Riku simply liked role-playing games of all kinds; he wasn't picky as to what specific sub-genre of role-playing game it was. The kids then started to compare the things they liked about the games they preferred. It soon came out that the black-haired boy really enjoyed fighting games that had an actual story to them; the more integrated the story was to the gameplay the better. Kairi, it turned out, preferred her puzzle games as mysteries; she really liked the more suspenseful ones. Then Riku pointed out that many role-playing games had aspects of both fighting and puzzle-solving games. He won two new converts to the love of RPGs right then and there. "You guys are weird," Sora deadpanned finally.

Touya didn't get back until the afternoon was half-over not that the kids noticed; they had been completely sucked into Riku's new game. The silver-haired man poked his head in and snorted lightly at their intent focus on the screen. "And here I'd been told you kids wanted to spar today," he quipped lightly. "Hi, Uncle Touya," Kairi waved, "Can't talk right now. Killing blob men." Vanitas was swearing under his breath every time his character got hit, "Dodge damn you…" Riku rolled his eyes at his friend's temper before he addressed his father, "We're almost to a save point. We'll stop after we hit it, okay?" The Watch Captain grinned lightly, "That's fine. I'll meet you in the courtyard." Other three kids made noises of acknowledgement, but were far too focused on killing masses of pixels on screen. It was a fairly straightforward plot as far as adventure games though. The kingdom was being terrorized by an evil wizard, and their characters had been hired by the king to eliminate him. The wizard, of course, had hordes of minions to send against the heroes; mostly creatures called 'blob men' whose appearance was pretty self-explanatory. Vanitas was rapidly developing a deep hatred for them because they kept regenerating every time he hit them; he'd gotten to the point that he was spamming his Dark Knight's special abilities out of sheer frustration. It worked pretty well, but it cost him a lot of power. "I know your pain," he muttered as his character started to slump as his mana drained, "Oh, do I know it…" "You say something, Vanitas," Riku asked. "Does swearing at the game count," the young Darkness wielder lied. "Liar," Sora muttered. He got an elbow to the ribs from his older brother in response.

The four kids made it out to the courtyard after another fifteen minutes of gameplay. Vanitas was a bit insulted by the fact that the Dark Knight class in the game was so slow; _he_ could use Darkness and he was _far_ from slow…not that his friends knew that. He was honestly getting tired of keeping his abilities a secret from everyone outside of his immediate family, but he was also a bit afraid that the revelation would drive the others away. He was dwelling on the pros and cons of admitting that he could use the Darkness when they arrived at the courtyard to find that Touya had gotten his hands on some additional equipment. "Due to the fact that my son and Vanitas seem incapable of sparring without injuring each other," he stated dryly, "I have acquired from the seamstress two suits of padded armor for you boys. I also commissioned a set each for Sora and Kairi, but they aren't done yet." Riku and Vanitas looked at each other, and then at their new armor, "Cool!" "Aw," Sora moaned, "I wish I had armor…" "It should be done by the day after tomorrow," Touya admitted, "In the meantime, I'm limiting you to sparring with Kairi only. You two are less likely to break each other." 'We don't do it _that_ often,' the two older boys thought in unison as they pulled on their new training gear, 'Only every other time…'

That afternoon's sparring session ended with a tie match between Riku and Vanitas, which left both of them frustrated, and a victory for Kairi against Sora. "I guess we're tied now," the brunette admitted cheerfully. "Yep," the red-head giggled in response. "I can't believe we tied," the silver-haired boy muttered. "Me neither," the golden-eyed boy sighed, "Good match, though." "Yeah," was the quiet agreement, "It was. I'll beat you next time, though." "Keep telling yourself that," the older boy smirked. Touya beamed at the four children, "You've all gotten a lot better. I'm no master swordsman, myself. In fact, I'd rate myself as being fairly average. Still I know talent when I see it, and you all have it. One day you will surpass my ability to teach you, and at the rate you all are going that day will be sooner rather than later. I will miss teaching you, but at least I will know that I helped you to reach your full potential." Kairi teared up a bit at the speech and lunged forward to hug Riku's father, "You're the best teacher ever!" Sora nodded firmly, "Yeah! You'll always be our first and best teacher!" Riku and Vanitas merely looked at each other, nodded, and bowed formally, "Thank you, Master Shimomura." Touya gave the two boys a mock severe look, "Didn't I just say I _wasn't_ a master?" The older boy smirked and replied, "We're just being polite." The young Shimomura nodded vigorously and grinned brightly at his father, "Yeah!" The man sighed and shook his head as he grinned, 'These are good kids. I will always treasure these times...no matter what trials may come… It is the days like this that will be the Light that keeps me going.'

Dinner that night was a cheerful affair. Mikazuki, in spite of her grousing about having to change her dinner plans, had roped the maids into helping her put together a small feast to welcome her guests. The woman was a natural hostess who adored entertaining people, and it showed. She eagerly quizzed her husband about his day and laughed brightly when he told her about the repeat-offender goat. She listened intently when the kids talked about the video game they'd played and how their sparring matches had turned out. When Sora confessed that, although he loved video games, his family just couldn't afford them she gave her husband a sharp look as she mentioned that she might be able to do something about that. Mikazuki had every intention of buying him a game of his own for his upcoming birthday. Vanitas simply soaked in the friendly atmosphere and let the tension fade away; he rarely showed it, but he was just as exhausted as his mother lately. By making himself responsible for his younger brother's safety he was constantly on guard; now that his mother was making herself a target by shifting her support…he was just as concerned for her as he was his brother. He didn't like leaving her behind with Akira, but admitted that he needed the break before _he_ started to lose it. However, he wasn't thinking about how badly his home life was going right then. Instead he was just reveling in the moment of peace; this was what kept him going. These rare days of peace when he could just be a kid… They made the dark moments seem like a day-old nightmare; still disturbing, but unable to hurt him. It allowed Vanitas' Heart to heal just enough to endure the waking nightmare that was life on the farm.

That evening was spent playing more of Riku's new video game; it was addicting. They had just gotten to the first major plot twist of the game where the heroes discovered that the queen was, in fact, an agent of the evil wizard who was lying in wait to assassinate the king; they had to hurry back in order to prevent the plan from succeeding. "You know we're heading into a boss fight," Vanitas said idly. "We know," the silver-haired boy replied. "And that we're almost out of items," the older boy continued. "We know," Kairi responded, "But there's a timer. We can't stop to re-stock without getting a game over." "We're gonna die," Sora concluded. "Yep," his brother agreed. "Shut up," the other two kids snapped. The Yagami boys obeyed, but were still utterly convinced that they were doomed…and their last save had been an hour ago. 'This calls for the Doom Song,' Vanitas thought with a smirk before he started to hum the tune. Riku turned and glared at his friend, "Seriously?" "What," the golden-eyed boy said innocently, "I like that show." It ultimately turned out that the Yagami boys' prediction was correct; they did get a game over due to the boss battle. Naturally, the older of the two could not help pointing out the fact that he and his brother had called it. This resulted in him getting smacked upside the head by both his friends while Sora snickered. The ensuing scuffle was interrupted by Emiko informing them that it was time to get ready for bed. They sighed and split off to do just that. Kairi had been set up in the upstairs guest bedroom, as usual, while the three boys bunked together in Riku's bedroom. As the boys settled down for the night Vanitas had one last idle thought before he dropped off, 'I wish my life could be like this all the time…'

 **A/N:** Yes, I made Vanitas a fan of 'Invader Zim'. It seems like the sort of thing he'd enjoy. I'm sure you all noticed the foreshadowing for the next chapter when everything goes to hell. Well, for Vanitas and his family. For the record, the next chapter takes place one month after this one. Also, since I never stated it in the chapter itself, Vanitas and Riku are both eight now. I also decided to allow Vanitas the chance to reconcile with his mother. She was _really_ the only parent he could reconcile with and, as I wrote her, I realized it wasn't within her character to remain antagonistic towards her son. She's the sympathetic parent while her husband…not so much. His hatred is causing the Darkness in his own Heart to grow out of control and is in the process of consuming him; which is why the events in the next chapter are going to happen. It's going to be pretty tragic, especially considering the fact that I've allowed that moment of reconciliation. Prepare for the sad feels, people. I'll be surprised if I can finish the next chapter without tearing up at least once. My throat is already getting pretty tight just thinking about it. See you next time…those of you who don't just skip it at least. Or leave the story altogether. This is also possible. Though why anyone would _want_ to at this point…


	7. Storm of Sorrow

**A/N:** THE GUILT! I feel it…and I haven't even written anything yet….but the events are there….in my head….waiting…. I'm not going to be able to finish this chapter without crying. I'm just not. The things I am going to force these boys to go through…. _my_ heart is breaking _and I'm the one who came up with the plot in the first place_! I'm still going to write it, but…GUILT! This chapter is the first of this book's two climaxes so things will slow down a lot for a while after this. Don't expect things to pick up again until about four chapters before the end. Climax number two is going to be a bit drawn out before things wind back down for the conclusion. Just saying. Ow… WHY DOES GUILT HAVE TO MAKE MY HEART HURT?! Worst…emotion…ever…. Well, that, anger, and hatred. The latter two feel all twisty and burning inside and it does NOT feel nice. I have…a lot…of not very well repressed anger from being bullied for most of my childhood and adolescence. Why is that (bullying I mean) not a felony? Seriously, it needs to be. START A PETITION! MAKE BULLYING ILLEGAL! I'll stop now.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all. GO AWAY GUILT!

Chapter 6: Storm of Sorrow

Kyoko Yagami stood outside the front door and frowned at the sky that morning, "Looks like there's going to be a storm this afternoon. Boys!" She turned to call back in the house for her sons who arrived promptly. She smiled down at her sons, "There's going to be a storm later today, and I'm going to need your help to get the farm ready. Sora?" "Yeah, mom," Sora looked up at his mother with a grin. "I need you to secure the chicken coop, dove cote, and greenhouse," she continued, "Vanitas?" The black-haired boy smiled up at his mother warmly, "Yes?" "I need you to round up the pigs, cattle, and horses, and tie down the garden cover securely. If using the Darkness will help, then use it as much as you need to. We only have this morning to get the farm ready, and we need to use everything at our disposal to finish in time. If that means relying on those powers of yours, then that's what we'll have to do," she finished firmly," I'll work on getting the house and barn secured once the animals are rounded up. In the meantime, I'm going to get the emergency supplies together. Let's move!" The two boys broke off to complete their tasks while their mother headed back inside to do her part. Her husband had been all but catatonic the past few days, so she felt there was no point in trying to get him to assist. It was strange though; one day he'd been perfectly normal, relatively speaking, and the next he simply lay there in bed staring at the ceiling all day. The furthest he'd moved was to go to the bathroom on occasion, but otherwise he just laid flat on his back and stared into space. She just hoped he came out of it with no ill effects; the last thing their family needed was for her husband to become a vegetable.

Sora carefully coaxed the chickens into their coop; they didn't really want to go, but he persisted. It took him about an hour to get them all into the small wooden structure. Once he got the last of them in, though, he shut the hatch and secured it with a padlock. He then moved on to the dove cote; fortunately, the birds had refused to leave it when it was opened earlier that morning. They'd sensed the coming storm long before the humans did and knew exactly where safety was. All he had to do was shut the door, lock it, and secure it to the side of the barn with extra fasteners kept nearby for just such an occasion. Finally he moved on to the greenhouse where they grew most of their produce as well as a few flowers that their mother liked to sell in the spring. He didn't need to do much to get it ready aside from check to be sure the windows were securely fastened, that all the glass was intact, and lock both doors. There was one other thing he had to do to storm proof the structure: cover it and tie down the cover itself. "Come…on…," he grunted as he tugged on the heavy wood and canvas construct his father had made years ago, "Stop…snagging…" He finally dragged the greenhouse cover over to the building it was designed to protect. Sora had to stop to catch his breath before he grabbed it and tried to throw it over the top of the greenhouse. He got lucky and made it on his first attempt; the two wooden boards settled firmly over each side of the pointed roof while the canvas sides trailed to the ground. He grabbed the anchoring stakes that went with the cover, and hammered them firmly into the ground before tying the trailing lines attached to the canvas to their respective anchors. His tasks completed, he went to see how his older brother was coming along.

Vanitas was enjoying himself immensely; the first thing he'd done was to call on the Darkness to enhance his speed. Next he'd fired off a weak Dark Aura to startle the pigs into heading from their wallow to the barn. He ran along beside them to ensure they didn't stray; the pigs were more than cooperative. They knew a storm was coming and had no desire to be outside when it hit. They went straight to their stalls and stayed put while the eight-year old secured the gates. He then moved on to the cattle. This was a bit trickier because they didn't care that a storm was coming. They just wanted to keep eating, so the black-haired boy got creative. He'd recently discovered how to cause eruptions of dark energy to burst out of the ground and decided the best way to get the stupid animals into the barn was to scare them in. The first batch of Dark Spires he set off around the edge of the herd to scare them into a small group. Then he started setting off the next batch behind and to the sides so that the only way they could move was towards the barn. The cattle did exactly as he expected and ran, bellowing, for the barn and the safety it offered. Once they were inside it was only a matter of cornering them and shoving them into their stalls. His Darkness augmented strength and speed made that laughably simple. The horses were easy; they only had six and they were pretty docile creatures. The only difficult bit was that four of them were draft horses and their large size made them a bit awkward for the eight-year old to manage. Vanitas was gentle with the horses, unlike the other livestock, because he knew that if they got too scared they could hurt themselves. Fortunately, the horses all had halters on so all he really had to do was grab a lead rope, fasten it to the respective horse's halter, and lead them, one at a time, to their stalls in the back of the barn. He hadn't been asked to, but he also checked to see that all five barn cats were indoors as well; they were. They, too, knew that the storm was coming and had settled themselves in and around the hay bales on the upper level.

"Smart cats," Vanitas muttered as he jumped back down to the ground floor; he'd stopped suffering damage from falls, or jumping from great heights, a month or two ago. He didn't even feel any pain from the landings let alone get bruises or sprains if he landed wrong. Finally he moved on to securing the garden cover; the 'garden' was really more of a collection of three fruit trees, a watermelon patch, a pumpkin patch, and a small cornfield. It basically was responsible for all the produce they could not grow in the greenhouse. The 'cover' was really a small Quonset-style metal hut with an open front on rollers. The rollers ran on tracks parallel to two of the garden's four sides. All that was needed to do to set it in place was to push it down the tracks until the garden was covered, and then lock the rollers in place. There was also a series of six poles driven deep into the ground with cables attached; there were three on each side of the cover. The cables provided further security as they clipped onto rings on the side of the hut anchoring it to the ground. It was a pretty ingenious set up. The only flaw was that the front _was_ open in order to prevent it from damaging the plants in the garden. It also meant that the gap was an easy way for storm damage to reach the garden; fortunately, there was a way to deal with that. Once Vanitas had the cover in place and had it anchored, he grabbed a ladder, a nearby tarp, and got to work. He laid the ladder against the front of the hut and, carrying the tarp climbed up. Along the rim of the front arch were a series of ring clips; the tarp also had rings along its edge that corresponded to each of the clips. The black-haired boy fastened the tarp into each of the clips and worked his way along the rim until the entire front was covered finishing it off at ground level. He then grabbed a bunch of nearby cinder blocks to weigh down the bottom of the tarp. With that the garden was securely protected from the worst the coming storm could offer…short of a tornado, but there isn't much you can do to prepare for that aside from go to ground and pray. Sora had arrived just as he finished with the garden and sulked that he had entirely missed his brother's display of power. Vanitas only laughed and challenged his younger sibling to a race back to the house…they had no idea this would be their last day on the farm for a long time…

Kyoko had finished gathering the family's emergency supplies, and securing the house against the coming storm by the time her sons had finished their given tasks. She directed them to stay indoors while she finished securing the barn. It was almost time for lunch by the time she got the barn locked down, and the sky was already darkening ominously. The gentle breeze that had been present all morning was slowly fading away. It wouldn't be long now before the storm hit with a vengeance. She headed back in to get to work on lunch for her and her sons. She would warm up some soup for her husband after she finished eating herself. "What would you like for lunch today," she asked her sons as she shut the back door behind her. Sora was the first to respond, "Pizza!" Kyoko laughed lightly, "Something a little less complicated than that please." Vanitas was the second to offer his suggestion, "Fried egg and tomato sandwiches!" "Now that," the woman smiled, "I can do. How about some applesauce on the side?" Both boys nodded vigorously; their mother made the best applesauce. She grabbed several eggs, freshly gathered that morning, from the fridge and a couple of tomatoes as well. She then got to work slicing the vegetables, and frying the eggs. It was a fairly quick meal to make; nonetheless, by the time she had finished the wind had fully died. The storm was about to break. Kyoko was unnerved by the sudden calm and turned to her sons, "You start eating. I'm going to heat up my husband's lunch while we still have power." She'd long since given up referring to the man as the boys' father since they both vehemently denied any relationship to him. She filled a bowl with soup from the pot she'd made a few days ago, and placed it in the microwave. She set it for three minutes and turned it on before rejoining her son's at the table for lunch. With her husband's absence, meals had been fairly enjoyable with normal family conversations.

Due to how far they lived from town both of her boys were homeschooled, so most of her questions were geared towards how they were doing on their schoolwork. Kyoko also would quiz them on the topics they were studying; it helped that she once dreamed of being a teacher before she became a farmer's wife. A large part of the reason that she'd warmed to Vanitas was the fact that he was a diligent student. He took his lessons very seriously and always had practical questions. He was also intensely curious and eager to learn. By contrast, his younger brother was fairly lax in his studies. He was far from stupid, but he tended to lose interest easily…unless it was his brother who was teaching him. Then he had razor sharp focus; it was for that reason in particular that Kyoko had pressed the older boy into being Sora's tutor. She would teach them the lesson, and then Vanitas was to go over it with him later. The system worked fairly well as both her sons were a year ahead of their peers in town. "Have you finished your schoolwork for the week," she asked them as she ate. "Almost," her eldest replied, "We were going to finish after lunch." The woman nodded and turned to her youngest, "Is there anything you're having trouble with." "Math," Sora responded promptly, "I can't remember my times tables very well. Mostly the higher numbers." Kyoko smiled and told her son, "Well, let's review then shall we…"

Mrs. Yagami cleaned off the table after lunch and set the dishes in the sink while her boys ran to grab their textbooks and homework. As she cleaned she idly noticed that one of her knives was missing. "Now that's odd," she mused, "I'm sure it was there yesterday. Did I use it while I was making dinner last night? I suppose I could have misplaced it then…" She wrote off the missing knife reasoning that it would probably turn up again sooner or later. She heard her sons settle themselves in the living room and start to discuss their homework with each other. Kyoko smiled slightly as she picked up Vanitas coaching Sora on his times tables again. He really was a good son. She finished her cleaning, and grabbed her husband's soup from the microwave just as the wind started to pick up again; the storm was about to break. She passed through the living room on her way to the hallway and smiled again as she saw her sons hard at work. She headed for her and her husband's bedroom with one last thought, 'It's so peaceful with Akira being under the weather. Maybe this peculiar illness of his is a good thing. A sign that he's about to change for the better.'

Kyoko reached her bedroom just as the power went out. "That's strange," she commented, "Perhaps a transformer further down the way got blown…" The room was oddly dark; all the window shades had been drawn, including the curtains that covered the sliding glass door, and the dimness wasn't helped by the heavy storm clouds outside. "Kyoko," her husband's oddly flat voice sounded out of the darkness. She blinked in surprise, "Akira? Are you feeling better now?" "So-o-o-o much better," the man answered with a strange drawl, "I've had a revelation." The woman carefully made her way across the bedroom floor to set the bowl of soup down on her husband's bedside table. "Oh really," she replied hopefully as she reached her destination and set the bowl down, 'Maybe he's finally had a change of heart.' "Yes," he replied in the same odd tone, "I've realize there is only one way to fix this family." Kyoko frowned as her husband's hand suddenly shot out and grasped her wrist, "Fix it? I don't understand." His grip tightened as he spoke, "I've realized…that the only way I can make us all better…" He trailed off causing his wife to speak nervously, "Akira, you're hurting me. Please let go." He finally finished his sentence as a crack of lightning illuminated the room revealing the utterly deranged look in his now dark golden eyes, "The only way is for us all to die so that the taint is eliminated once and for all!" Poor Kyoko only had time to release a short scream before her husband threw her against the wall and knocked her out cold. He slowly stood and walked over to his wife's unconscious body as he caressed her missing knife. "I'm only doing this because I love you Kyoko," he whispered as he knelt next to her and raised the knife over his head…before plunging it downwards. The storm had broken.

Vanitas stiffened in the living room as he heard his mother's scream and shot to his feet. "Something's wrong," he frowned worriedly, "Sora, stay here." Sora looked curiously at his older brother as he headed towards the back of the house, "Why? What's wrong?" "I don't know yet," the older boy responded uneasily, "But I have a _really_ bad feeling." He slowly sped up as he headed down the hallway towards his parents' room. The feeling of impending doom was only growing stronger and it made the Darkness in him stir in response to his growing unease. The door to the room was slightly cracked open and he peered through the gap. Vanitas' powers meant he could see in the dark almost as well as he could during the day, so he was able to see the scene in his parent's room with almost perfect clarity. More's the pity, for the poor boy saw his father standing over his mother's limp body…holding a knife covered with her blood. He could see that her torso had been slashed wide open and realized there was no way she was still alive; not with the lake of blood she was lying in and her innards exposed. He gasped as he staggered backwards, "Mom…no…" He had to force down the urge to cry as he heard his father start to walk, slowly, towards to door and realized that there was a very good chance he would be coming after his sons next. Vanitas turned and ran for the living room as fast as he could, and slammed the door behind him before wedging a chair underneath it. "Sora," he commanded sharply, "We've gotta run! Head for the back door! Now!" Sora blinked in confusion, "What? Why?" "Akira's lost his mind," the older boy snapped as he watched the door warily, "And he's _coming to kill us._ He already got Mom…" His last sentence was a choked whisper, but his little brother caught it and paled, "Mom's…dead?" Vanitas tensed as he heard his father's fist thud against the jammed door, "We can mourn once we're safe! Now _move!_ " Sora yelped and bolted for the kitchen as the chair jammed under the doorknob started to splinter. The older boy hesitated, took a deep breath, and summoned a Dark Shield to block off the kitchen door. "I'm sorry, Sora," he whispered as the chair splintered further, "But I have to do this…"

The chair shattered with a splintering crack and the door banged open revealing Akira Yagami standing there with a deranged smile on his face. "Hello, boy," he whispered menacingly. "Hello, murderer," Vanitas hissed back. "Murderer," the man tilted his head in a puzzled fashion, "I don't understand." "You killed my mother," the golden-eyed boy snarled furiously. The deranged man shook his head slowly, "No, I saved her. I'm going to save all of us." The black-haired child tensed as he wreathed his hands in a thick aura of darkness, "You're insane!" Akira threw back his head and laughed crazily before suddenly snapping back to calm, "Maybe. But we'll all be dead soon anyways, So what does it matter?" He then lunged for the Darkness wielder with his weapon raised to strike. Vanitas' eyes narrowed as time appeared to slow; he saw the knife coming down and reacted accordingly. The Darkness around his hands abruptly solidified into organic-looking, black and red armored gauntlets and he caught the knife in his left hand before lashing out with a harsh punch to the gut. The blow caused Akira to stagger backwards before falling to his knees; he released the knife in the process which the boy promptly snapped in half and pocketed. The eight-year old walked forward as he summoned an energy blast in his hand with a grim expression on his face. "You brought this on yourself," he whispered coldly. The man suddenly smirked before grabbing a chair and slamming it hard into the boy's side before surging back to his feet. Vanitas gasped in pain as his concentration was disrupted causing the power he'd gathered his hand, as well as the partial armor he'd summoned, to fade. Akira didn't stop, and continued to rain blows down upon his son with his improvised weapon. The boy staggered backwards under the assault; another harsh blow to his right side caused him to fall to his knees with a pained wheeze as he felt his ribs start to give. The man took advantage of the opening by landing a vicious kick to the exact same spot he'd just struck causing the boy's ribs to shatter and dig inwards. Vanitas cried out in agony as he flew to the side and landed hard against the living room wall before falling to the floor. He gasped desperately for air as his father walked over to the broken heap that was his first-born; the boy was completely helpless. It was all he could do just to remain conscious…

In the meantime, Sora had reached the back door and tried to open it. Upon realizing it was jammed he turned intending to ask his brother for help and froze when he realized he was alone. He saw the Dark Shield covering the door and ran back intending to yell at his brother. His voice caught in his throat, though, as he saw Akira confronting Vanitas. "Oh no," he whispered. He watched the entire fight in horror from behind the safety of the Shield and cried out in terror as his older brother fell. "NO," he screamed as the man raised his makeshift club to finish his eldest son off, "DON'T HURT HIM!" The boy gasped in shock as the man appeared to listen and turned to look towards the kitchen. "Please," the heart-broken child pleaded, "Stop this, Akira. You don't have to do this." "Oh, but I do," the man hissed menacingly as he started to head for his youngest son, "It's the only way we can be saved you see. The only way to cleanse the Darkness is for those of us who have been tainted by it to be destroyed." He paused on the other side of the Shield and mused thoughtfully, "I wonder how long this will last after the boy loses consciousness…?" The Shield suddenly flickered as if to answer the man's question. "Not long at all," Akira concluded, "Don't worry, Sora. I'll finish you next." He threw back his head and laughed again, but his levity cut off abruptly as the man froze in shock, "What…?" He staggered as he turned around to look back at Vanitas…revealing the knife shard sticking out of his back. The golden-eyed boy was leaning heavily against the couch, clutching at his broken ribs, and was slowly lowering his arm from a throwing position. "I told you," the boy choked weakly, "That I'd…kill you…if you tried….to harm…Sora again…" "So you did," Akira wheezed as he fell to his knees, "So…you…did…" He dropped to the floor and went still; he was dead. Vanitas coughed harshly as he collapsed limply to the floor just as his Shield failed. He'd saved his brother, but it had cost him dearly in the process.

Sora rushed to his fallen brother's side the second the Shield went down and kneeled beside him. The older boy was in a crumpled heap and struggling to breathe. "Vanitas," he whispered as he gently rolled his brother onto his back, "Please don't leave me." The black-haired boy coughed weakly and cracked his eyes open, "Not sure…how well…I can…control that…Sora… I-I'm…sorry… I…can't… Unnh…" The younger boy bit his lip as his older brother's eyes rolled back slightly and slid shut as he passed out; he'd never seen the other boy so weakened, and was at a loss for what to do. "I need help," he whispered, "Phone… I need to call for help…" He clambered to his feet and ran back into the kitchen. He climbed up onto the counter and grabbed the receiver off of its cradle before dialing the Shimomura's number; it was the only one he had memorized. "Please work," he breathed, "Please…" The phone rang several times before he heard Mr. Shimomura's rich baritone, "Hello, this is the Shimomura residence. Touya speaking." "Uncle Touya," Sora sobbed, "I need help! Please! Vanitas is… And my mom…" His voice kept cracking as his raging emotions broke through the shock prompting Touya to grow alarmed, "Sora? What's wrong? What happened?" "I don't… I can't… Please help me," the boy cried desperately. "Where's your mother," the other man pressed. "Vanitas…said….she was…dead," the boy sobbed hysterically. "What?! Are you safe," the Watch Captain shouted. "Yeah…but Vanitas…," the poor child whimpered. "I'll be right there," Touya said firmly, "I don't know how injured your brother is, but you need to do whatever you can to keep him conscious. It's his best chance. Just hang on." Sora sniffled hard, "Okay… Please hurry." "Right," the man said grimly before he hung up. The traumatized child hung up as well, and dropped back to the floor before returning to his brother's side.

When Touya arrived at the house he was, frankly, horrified by what he found. His cousin was dead on the floor with a broken knife blade in his back, Sora was holding his semi-conscious brother's head in his lap rambling about whatever came to his mind, and Vanitas was staring blankly at the ceiling with a thin trail of blood trickling down his chin as he struggled to breathe. The silver-haired man promptly fell back on his training and walked over to the two children. He knelt next to the traumatized brunette who had stopped talking and was looking over at him with a pleading expression. Now that he was closer he could see that the golden-eyed boy had been severely beaten; much of the skin that was exposed was covered in livid bruises. The blood coming from his mouth was more concerning as it indicated severe internal injuries. A conclusion that was further supported by his labored breathing and clammy skin. The boy was clearly in shock and was desperately in need of medical treatment; the sooner the better. Questions would have to wait. "I'm not going to ask you what happened," he told Sora as he carefully picked up the badly injured boy, "Vanitas needs help more than I need answers right now. Come on, I brought the Watch Truck so you can ride back with us." The scared brunette only nodded and watched his brother closely. The grievously injured boy didn't react to being moved besides gasping sharply and releasing an agonized moan. Vanitas' mind had been completely overwhelmed by the pain he was in. The last thing he remembered before everything faded into agony was his brother shaking him and telling him he _had_ to stay conscious before the younger boy started talking about random topics. He'd struggled to keep focused, but the pain was just too much for him to handle. Every breath felt like a fist full of knives was being driven into his right side, and it was getting increasingly difficult to breathe. All his focus now was being directed to getting air, but he just couldn't seem to get _enough_ ; he was fading, and fast…

Touya broke every speed record driving back into town; originally he'd planned to leave Sora with his family, but Vanitas' condition was deteriorating so rapidly that he headed straight to the healer's hut without stopping. He pounded hard on the door of the tiny house and was gratified when the door was opened by a young blonde girl. "Namine," he said firmly as he cradled the dying eight-year old in his arms, "This is an emergency. Is your master in?" The little girl nodded, "This way Captain, sir." She led the trio into the back of the hut where the healer, 'Baba' Kadowaki, was mixing a remedy. "Master," the young blonde said politely, "These people have an emergency." The elderly woman looked over her shoulder and frowned as her eyes zeroed in on Vanitas' battered form, "I'd say they're right." She gestured to the bed to her left, "Lay him down there and then stand back. I need to examine him to get a better idea of what I'm dealing with." Touya swiftly obeyed the healer's commands and rested his hands on Sora's shoulders as he waited her diagnoses. The boy's breathing was little more than a shuddering wheeze by this point and he was deathly pale. His eyes had finally started to flutter shut on the way in as his body started to fail, and were now tightly closed. Blood trailed down both sides of his face from his mouth thanks to what he'd coughed up on the way in. Frankly, he looked more dead than alive. Baba moved swiftly as she cut the injured boy's shirt away and hissed sharply as she got a good look at his torso. There was a distinct indent on his right side that was covered in deep, vibrant bruises. She prodded the region lightly, and frowned as she felt the ribs under her hands give easily. The boy choked weakly at her action as more bright red blood bubbled out of his mouth, but failed to respond otherwise. That was all the evidence she needed to confirm her need to act…fast; the rest of the diagnosis would have to wait. "His ribs have punctured his right lung," she announced curtly, "And he's bleeding internally. He needs surgery. Now." She stood and walked briskly over to her work bench to gather the equipment she needed. "Namine," the woman glanced at her apprentice, "I will require your assistance." "Yes, master," the quiet blonde replied as she moved to assist. Both females paused to shoo the males out into the front room and shut the door before they got to work.

Sora spent the entire time with his eyes shut in concentration. He was barely aware of anything other than the fact that he could still faintly feel his brother's presence in his Heart. He had always been aware to some degree that he could sense when his brother was in pain or feeling some emotion. However, he had never been fully aware of the strength of their connection until it started to fade rapidly on the way back into town causing his own Heart to reach out and latch on to the fading presence. The fact that this was also around the same time that Vanitas had started to lose his fight to stay alive and passed out again also helped drive home the epiphany: their Hearts were connected on a fundamental level...and _that he could use that connection to save his brother_. He was so focused on trying to anchor his brother's Heart with his own that he didn't even notice when Touya coughed awkwardly in an attempt to get the boy's attention. The silver-haired man had to reach out and shake the boy lightly just to get him to tune back in to exterior reality. "Sora," he told the boy quietly, "I need to call the Watch House so I can send some men out to deal with the situation at the farm. I might need to go along with them, so I'm also going to call my wife and have her wait with you. All right?" The hollow-eyed brunette nodded vaguely before he tuned back into his link with his brother; Vanitas needed him. The man sighed, and moved to do exactly what he'd said he'd do. He made his calls; his wife was understandably distraught once she'd realized why, exactly, he'd rushed out of the house so fast earlier. She swore she'd head right over. His men were more professional; they offered to go out without him, but soon realized that this was something he needed to deal with personally. Touya waited at the healers until Mikazuki arrived, gave her a quick hug, directed her to a zombie-like Sora, and left to meet up with his men. He had a job to do.

The surgery took two full hours to finish; Vanitas was stable at the end of it, but was terribly weak and effectively in a coma. Baba addressed Mikazuki with the boy's condition, "He's in bad shape, I'm afraid. Most of the right side of his rib cage was completely shattered and the top three were badly cracked though they were still holding. Fortunately, the only thing damaged by his broken ribs was his right lung, but the bleeding was still severe. On top of that, he also suffered a severely fractured shoulder blade, a concussion, and severe bruising over 65% of his face and torso. The good news is that he has a strong chance of recovery due to the fact that he's young and reasonably healthy. Still, it will take him close to a year before he's fully healed in spite of the Curaga spells we used." "Less than that," Sora said quietly as he stared at his brother, "Vanitas has always healed faster than normal." The healer hummed thoughtfully, "Is that so? That explains some of those scars. Several of them looked to have been from deep wounds that would require stitches to heal. I'm guessing weren't, though, were they?" The little boy shook his head slowly, "I treated all of them, myself. I just cleaned and bandaged everything, and the next day they'd be closed." The healer sighed, "Then we can cut physical recovery down to around five months. I don't know how long it'll take for him to bounce back from this emotionally though. We had to fight to keep him in this world long enough to heal him to the point that he was stable. It was almost as though he'd given up on living…" Mikazuki frowned at that, "Considering what little I know about the situation…I can imagine why he'd want to…" "Mom," Sora whimpered. "I understand poor Kyoko's dead," the healer said sadly, "She was always such an optimistic child. I imagine this must be hard for you." "I only know," the little boy sniffed, "because Vanitas told me. He's the one who saw her…" "Oh, Vanitas," the amber-eyed woman whispered as she brushed the injured boy's hair away from his face, "I am so sorry…" Baba sighed, "Now there's only the question of where the boy is going to stay while he heals. Unfortunately, I don't have the room to keep him here, and returning home is obviously out of the question." Mikazuki straightened and gave the healer a look, "Don't be silly. They'll _both_ be staying with my family for the foreseeable future. I'm not about to abandon Kyoko's sons!"

Mikazuki called home for the butler to bring the family buggy over to the healers as she wasn't about to risk carrying Vanitas all the way across the village. As she waited she stroked the injured boy's forehead softly. "He used it again," she heard Sora say quietly, "He always uses it when I'm in danger." She looked at the traumatized brunette, "Uses what?" The little boy turned his eyes to the woman he considered an Aunt and answered with absolute honesty, "The Darkness." Her eyes widened as she turned her gaze back to the boy in the bed, 'So he's a wielder as well… That…explains a lot actually. Poor thing must have worked everything out by instinct and trial-and-error, and knowing how people around here are about such things... Sweet Darkness, he must have been terrified that someone would find out!' "You don't hate him now, right," the little boy asked worriedly. "Of course not," Mikazuki replied in surprise, "There's nothing wrong with being able to use Darkness. Besides, he's never hurt anybody with it, has he?" Sora shook his head vigorously prompting the amber-eyed woman to smile, "Then there is no reason to change my opinion. He's the same sweet, shy little boy as always. I just know a bit more about him now." "Akira hated him," the little boy confessed, "He kept trying to kill him because he could use the Darkness." The woman scowled darkly, "That…explains far too much. He is _so_ lucky he's dead or I would beat the living daylights out of him with my frying pan!" "Vanitas killed him," the little boy whispered sadly, "To save _me_ … He stayed behind to fight him…because of _me…_ It's my fault he's hurt… It's all my fault." "Oh, Sora no," Mikazuki knelt down and hugged the boy, "Listen to me, baby. _None_ of this is your fault. Sometimes these things just happen. Besides, knowing how over-protective your brother can be, I imagine he chose to fight of his own free will. That means the only one responsible for his condition are him and the bas-ahem- jerk that did this to him." "Really," Sora whimpered brokenly, "It's not my fault?" "Not in the slightest," the woman replied, "And I bet your brother will tell you the same once he wakes up."

The buggy arrived shortly after she finished comforting the broken little boy and, with Hiroshi's help, she settled Vanitas in the back seat. Sora sat on her lap as the butler drove them all back to the house. The maids had already gotten the guest room set up to accommodate the two boys, so once they arrived Mikazuki carried the unconscious boy up to their new room and got him settled. She privately admitted to herself that, between the heavy bruising, the bandages covering his torso, the exhausted expression on his sleeping face, and his extreme pallor, he looked even more broken than his brother. She sighed sadly and headed back downstairs to see how Sora was recovering. She'd left him with Emiko who promptly set about making the boy a cup of hot cocoa and a plate of cookies while fussing over him terribly. The elderly maid had a massive mothering streak, and the miserable little boy had set it off with a vengeance. Mikazuki arrived in the living room to find the little boy sitting on the couch while the old woman told him embarrassing stories about her past employers; the old maid had no shame. The faint smile on the boy's face gave her a thrill of relief; she was worried that he'd be moping for days. "Well, Vanitas is resting comfortably," she sighed as she sat down, "There's not much more we can do for him until he wakes up aside from making sure he stays fed and hydrated." "Lots of soup and smoothies then," Emiko replied primly, "Sora? What are your brother's favorite flavors?" Sora blinked, "Um, he likes blackberries, cherries, apples, and grapes. His favorite soup is tomato…or chicken 'n rice." "Right," the old woman stood and bustled into the kitchen, "I'll get right on that!" The little boy blinked in surprise, "Is she always like that?" "Sadly, yes," Mikazuki responded drily. The brunette blinked again, "She's strange." "Yes," the amber-eyed woman agreed, "Yes, she is. Loyal though. She knows I come from a family of Darkness wielders, so she should have no problem accepting your brother. Same for the rest of our servants, really."

Sora stared at the dark haired woman in surprise, "You have family who can use the Darkness too?" "Technically I can as well," Mikazuki admitted, "But I'm horribly out of practice on actually _using_ my powers. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but Darkness wielders tend not to be well liked around here. I keep it a secret for a reason." She frowned sternly, "The only reason I am telling you this is because I now know your brother is one as well. You are not to tell anyone else outside of this family about _either_ of our abilities without our express permission. Am I clear?" The little boy shrank under her stern look, "Am I in trouble for telling you?" "This one time the answer is no because of the circumstances and the fact that I, too, am a wielder," she answered, "Riku also possesses the ability, though he hasn't practiced with it. I think he's trying to ignore it." She finished in a light tone as she grinned at her son's reluctance to embrace his heritage. Sora blinked in surprise, "Riku can use Darkness too?!" "And Light," Riku's mother replied lightly, "Thanks to his dad. He's unusual in that he has a natural affinity for both. I'm not surprised he hasn't told you. He seems to be under the _mistaken_ impression it makes him a freak." "But that's so cool," the young boy gushed as his eyes lit up, "Light _and_ Darkness! I can't wait to tell Vanitas…um…is that okay?" "You'd have to ask, Riku," Mikazuki said lightly. The brunette smiled weakly as he resolved to do just that before his face fell again due to his lingering guilt over his brother's condition.

"Now," Mikazuki continued after giving the boy a concerned look, "once your brother wakes up I'm going to need to find out his capabilities. The fact that he's managed this long without hurting himself is admirable, but the Darkness is dangerous. I intend to offer him guidance in developing his natural abilities." "Why," Sora asked as he snapped out of his guilt, "He's really careful and doesn't try to learn anything new until he has control over the stuff he does know." "Which is a very good habit to be in," the amber-eyed woman praised, "But I have a responsibility to him now as his legal guardian _and_ as a fellow Darkness wielder." "Legal wha…," the confused boy blinked. "Touya and I are your god-parents," the woman explained, "Both yours and Vanitas' in fact. That means that, if something happens to your parents, we're responsible for taking care of you both. Just think of us as a back-up set of parents." "So you and Uncle Touya," Sora said slowly, "are our new Mom and Dad, now?" "Pretty much, yeah," she replied. The little boy teared up again and launched at the woman in a tackle hug, "THANK YOU!" Mikazuki blinked in surprise, 'Well…was not expecting that reaction…but it's not unwelcome! I HAVE MORE KIDS! But Kyoko's dead… She was a good friend… I miss her already… Huh. It is, in fact, possible to be happy and sad at the same time…' The woman grinned through her own welling tears and hugged the little boy back. The two sat their together and soaked in the comfort of hugging for a good five minutes. It would be a long rest of the day, full of ups and downs, but for the moment everything was good.

Touya didn't get back from the farm until after Sora had gone to bed for the night. He looked absolutely miserable and his wife immediately moved to hug him tightly. "How bad was it," she asked quietly. Her husband spoke quietly in a haunted tone, "The knife blade hit Akira right in the heart. He died quickly… It feels horrible to say this about my own cousin, but it was a kinder death than he deserved. I saw what he did to Kyoko… He butchered her. Add what he did to Vanitas and probably tried to do to Sora… How could he _do_ that?! I've seen some horrible things on the job, but…this is my family!" Mikazuki responded quietly, "According to Sora, it was Vanitas who killed Akira in order to protect his younger brother. Vanitas was also the only one of the two boys to see their mother after she was killed. Sora escaped that pain. He did, however, watch his brother try to fight off their father." "Vanitas is certainly unique," Touya replied tiredly, "The fact that he was badly injured, _and_ apparently coping with a severe emotional shock, and _still_ managed to aim _and throw_ that blade shard precisely enough to kill…That takes an insane amount of focus and willpower to overcome. Most of the adults I know aren't even that capable." His wife nodded before stepping back from her husband so she could look him in the eyes, "As for how Akira could go so far, I don't know. But I might have an idea as to why. Vanitas is like me, Touya. He's a Darkness wielder. Akira apparently hated his son for that….and that hatred must have consumed him in the end." The Watch Captain blinked in shock, "Vanitas is…? And Akira…? That explains…way too much, actually. You realize I can't include that in my report, though. Not if I want to keep the kid from being lynched. As it is, I'm reluctant to include the fact that he killed Akira. The villagers are _not_ going to like that even if it _was_ justified." Mikazuki laughed weakly, "Yeah, I know." The couple stood there for a while in thought before Touya sighed, "What a mess this turned out to be…" His wife mirrored his sigh, "Agreed. At least the boys are still alive, though." "True," he replied with a sad smile, "At least we have that to be thankful for. Now we just have to help them both heal…"

 **A/N:** I said it was going to be dark…and apparently I have no soul because I did not actually cry. My throat got all tight, but that was it. Also we have the first of Vanitas' official 'Near Death Experiences'. Yes, I am keeping a list; there will be maybe…four or five more before the end of the series though they will be scattered throughout the other four books. I figured it would be fun to list them all in my head. I have problems… I feel really bad for killing Kyoko, but that was always going to be her fate; it was planned from the beginning. I just wasn't expecting her to grow on me so much. I also added in the first _partial_ appearance of Vanitas' iconic armor suit. I just keep teasing with his abilities… Riku had no place in this chapter's events, so I left him out. Assume the servants were entertaining him, or he was helping Sora cope off screen. Do you like how I worked in the fact that he can use both Darkness and Light still? Making it genetic means he doesn't have the whole fall-redemption character arc driving him. Make no mistake though: he's still going to have a _lot_ of anxiety in relation to his powers. NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! I'm really coming up with this stuff fast. I'm basically finishing a chapter a day… I wrote all of this chapter _and_ the one immediately before it in one day. I beat my own average. I am on a _roll_ here! I've never written this much this fast before… I think I like this story. Even if I'm the only one who does I'll still be happy…because now I get to read it whenever I want! SQUEE! Yeah, I so do _not_ act my age…


	8. Guilt

**A/N:** I have decided that this chapter will mostly be focused on Sora getting over the events of the last one. Vanitas is going to be unconscious until the very end, so this is entirely character development for his brother. To be fair he kind of needs it. He's mostly just been there as support so far, but now you get to see what _this_ version of Sora is really like...at least for the moment. I need to work on balancing character development; I know this. I have a bad habit of focusing on one character to the exclusion of all others…sometimes two. Unfortunately, I kind of struggle with writing everyone who _isn't_ Vanitas; I'm going to aim for balanced character development…but I can't promise anything. Needless to say, I find this immensely frustrating because one of my writing pet peeves is unbalanced character development among protagonists. It's been a long running complaint of mine with certain Square games *cough*FinalFantasy7,8,9, &ChronoCross*cough* and it'll drive me up a _wall_ if this story turns out the same way… Eh, whatever. All I can do is try my best. Here we go!

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. I own copies of the first three games…well first two and the remake of Chains of Memories… but that's it. If I owned the rights to the franchise do you honestly think I'd be writing fanfic? I'd be putting this stuff into the games! Since the games are not…well…like the last chapter…I think it should be pretty clear that I don't own the series. Love it though.

Chapter 7: Guilt

Sora usually awakened early and sat by his older brother's bed for hours before the rest of the household awakened. He just sat there and watched the other boy breathe slowly while trying to fight the lingering feelings of guilt; they just would not go away. "Everyone keeps telling me it's not my fault," the seven year old whispered one morning, "But I just can't make myself believe it… I know how fast you are. You could have gotten away easily, but…you stayed behind so I could escape… You sacrificed yourself….and nearly died last month, Vanitas. All because of me. How am I supposed to just let go of that?" Vanitas was unable to respond. He had been in a coma ever since the day Akira snapped due to the severity of the injuries he'd suffered, and showed no signs of coming out of it any time soon. He looked much better than he had initially for the bruises had long since faded away, and he was far less pale now; yet he still would not wake. Sora sighed sadly as he brushed a strand of hair away from his older brother's forehead. "Please…just come back…Vani…," the younger boy was so distraught he had fallen back on the nickname he had abandoned four years ago. The longer the older boy remained unconscious the worse the younger boy's guilt became; it would consume him if he had to wait much longer. The normally optimistic little boy was starting to lose hope…

The young brunette had developed a routine in the days since he'd been taken in by the Shimomuras. Once he heard the adults start to move around he would abandon his vigil and begin getting dressed for the day. He didn't want anyone to worry about him, so he'd bury his feelings of guilt as deeply as he could and put on a happy face. As far as everyone was aware he had fully recovered emotionally from the day of tragedy; well, everyone except Riku and Kairi. His two best friends were convinced he wasn't as happy as he acted. They couldn't agree on how to approach the problem, though. The red-head wanted to wait for him to ask them for help dealing with his trauma; she trusted that he would confide in them when he was ready. The older boy disagreed. The fact that both brothers had concealed years of abusive behavior from their father proved to him that Sora was more than capable of hiding his true feelings on a matter indefinitely. Worse, he could convince everyone that he was perfectly fine even when he _wasn't_. The _only_ way the younger boy would admit his true emotions, Riku was convinced, was if he were confronted and pressured into admitting them. They often argued their viewpoints when the topic of their concern was out of earshot. Kairi would bring up the fact that he'd opened up to Mrs. Shimomura when his brother had been injured. The silver-haired boy would counter that he had just had a major shock to the system and cited the younger boy's tendency to ramble endlessly when flustered. The only reason he'd been so honest was because he _had not been thinking_ about what he was saying and who he was saying it too initially. After he'd started the dam had been broken, and he simply couldn't stop even once he'd gotten a hold of himself. The arguments would rapidly degenerate from there before the red-head would finally guilt the older boy into not subjecting his friend to further trauma just yet. The problem was, Riku had the right idea; Sora was _not_ going to open up again willingly. He'd been too strongly conditioned against it.

Sora had a bright smile on his face, as usual, when he scampered into the dining room that morning; his best friend had to force himself to act normal. He hated to see the younger boy lie to everyone the way he did, and was rapidly losing patience. "Good morning, Aunt Mika," the brunette chirped as he sat down at the table. "Good morning, Sora," Mikazuki smiled back, "Did you sleep well?" "Yeah," the younger boy replied, "What's for breakfast?" "Nothing fancy, today," his godmother chuckled, "Just waffles." "Yay," the brunette cheered, "I love waffles!" Riku grit his teeth in annoyance. Was he seriously the only one who noticed how fake the younger boy was acting? All you had to do was look at his eyes! For all that Sora was an amazing actor, his eyes just could not lie; the pain he was still feeling kept flashing through them as he spoke. The silver-haired boy refused to hold back any longer! Today he was going to confront his best friend one way or the other; enough was enough! "Can I go visit Kairi today, Uncle Touya," the younger boy asked innocently as he ate making his friend's eyes narrow. 'You aren't going to get away from me that easily, Sora,' the older boy promised, 'I've let you suffer alone long enough. I am _going_ to help you whether you want me to or not!' "Unfortunately," Touya replied to the younger boy's question, "That's not going to be possible. She left to visit her cousins in Yume Village yesterday." "But that's all the way on the other side of the mountains," Sora whined petulantly, "We won't get to play for _days_!" The man's mouth twitched in amusement, "A week to be exact. Her mother's taking her. The mayor stopped by to tell me all about it." The brunette groaned and allowed his head to fall forwards, "Aww…" Riku smirked, 'Which means no Kairi to stop me. This day just gets better and better…'

After breakfast, Sora headed into the living room where he flopped onto the couch with the intent to read the new comic book he'd gotten the day before. Initially, he'd spent his mornings trying to entertain himself in his room, but considering he shared it with his comatose brother... He found it impossible to ignore the other boy's presence. It made maintaining his mask way to difficult, so he started finding other ways to occupy himself. Part of him wished he still had chores to do like back out on the farm; at least that kept him from thinking. He knew the Shimomuras lived a fairly leisurely life from past visits, but he had no idea it was so _boring_. Sora had no idea how Riku put up with it; still he was finding ways to manage. He pulled the comic book out from where he'd stashed it under the couch cushions and started to read. The young boy soon found himself sucked into the whimsical world of a short-tempered weasel and his slow-witted rabbit friend. He loved the silly situations and wacky misadventures the duo got up to; he wished his life was like that… Sora, while far from stupid, was not a very fast reader, so it took him a few hours to finish the issue. He sighed happily as he set it down on his chest and stared up at the ceiling, "That was great…um… Now what am I gonna do?" The brunette pouted in annoyance before he decided he'd grab some paper and crayons so he could doodle. He wasn't very good, but it was surprisingly relaxing to just forget everything and draw. He headed to his room to grab his supplies; he made sure _not_ to look at Vanitas' bed while he was in there. The last thing he needed was to allow the guilt to rise up again. It was hard enough to avoid as it was.

Sora spent the rest of the morning doodling in the living room before he headed into the dining room for lunch. Emiko had made grilled cheese and tomato soup that day and the brunette flinched inwardly even as he beamed on the outside; one of the things he and Vanitas had in common was a love of the combination of grilled cheese and tomato soup. The older boy had even gotten into a vehement argument with Riku over how that combination was better than the silver haired boy's favorite – chili and cornbread – the last time they'd visited…one week before Akira lost it. The guilt started gnawing at him again as he ate, but he did his best to ignore it. He had slowed down in how fast he ate considerably in the weeks since the tragedy at the farm. The brunette still loved to eat, of course, but nothing seemed to taste as good anymore. A small part of it was because he was pining for his mother's cooking, but the main reason was due to the emotion that had been troubling him ever since his brother was injured: guilt. The boy didn't realize it, but his feelings were making his brain register everything as tasting slightly blander than they really were. Sora tried to hide the fact that he wasn't really enjoying his meal, though. He refused to make anyone worry about him when it was his brother who really deserved everyone's concern. The young boy was utterly convinced that his older brother's well-being was more important than his own. After all, it _was_ his fault the other boy had been injured in the first place. It all came back to the guilt; it dominated all of his motivations: his refusal to worry his new family, his desperate efforts to keep himself amused, and his ritual of holding a vigil over the comatose Vanitas every morning. It all came back to the crushing weight of self-blame he had held onto for the past month. It wasn't _quite_ self-loathing…yet…but if his feelings weren't dealt with soon…

After lunch the boy normally headed out into the courtyard for sword training, and today was no different. In all honesty, Sora looked forward to it. When he was practicing his sword play, he wasn't thinking about anything other than the move set he was working on. It was even better when they would spar because then all his attention was focused on the flow of combat; his mind simply didn't have the time to dwell on his feelings. "Today," Touya said firmly, "We're going to be practicing combos. Sora, you're going to be working on a basic three-part combo drill. It's very simple. All you have to do is this," the silver-haired man paused to demonstrate three quick, sharp strikes, "Properly executed, this combo will cause your opponent to recoil giving you an opening to unleash further attacks. Riku, I'm going to be drilling you on some counter combos. The basic idea is that, immediately after countering an attack, you unleash a combo chain on your opponent. It requires sharp reflexes. Think you're up for it?" Riku nodded firmly and gripped his training sword tightly, "I am." The older boy had recently embraced his Dark heritage after Sora shyly approached him about it; he'd been reluctant at first, but once he learned that Vanitas had Dark powers of his own… He made the connection between his older friend's occasional bursts of superhuman speed and strength pretty quickly, and decided he'd take any advantage he could get in their rivalry. The brunette, meanwhile, was determinedly practicing his routine. He was pretty slow and awkward at first, but he gradually got the hang of it. By the end of the session, while he was not quite at Touya's speed of execution, he was pretty sure he had the combo down. Riku had also done well on grasping the move set he was learning that day. However, he wasn't as focused on training as he usually was. Instead, he was coming up with a plan to get his best friend to open up. He'd noticed how the younger boy avoided spending time in the brothers' shared room whenever possible. The silver-haired boy was pretty sure he knew why too, and that gave him an idea to use as a plan B. He didn't really feel good about it, but – even as young as he was – he realized that sometimes you had to be cruel to be kind…

It was after Touya left for work for the day, and his mother was occupied in the side garden, that Riku made his move. Sora had headed for the upstairs bathroom to get cleaned up after practice. The maids, Yuki and Emiko, were both downstairs cleaning while the butler was busy getting the dining room set up for dinner. There was _no one else_ upstairs, and the silver-haired boy _knew_ he'd never get a better opportunity to confront his younger best friend _without_ interruptions. He stealthily crept up the stairs and lurked outside of the bathroom doors. Soon enough, the younger boy was finished and walked out with his hands in his pockets. Riku abruptly reached out, grabbed his friend, and dragged him into the nearby ballroom; he slammed the startled brunette up against the wall with a sharp glare. "I," the older boy growled, "am not going to put up with you _lying_ to everyone anymore!" Sora's eyes widened as he stammered back, "I…uh…I don't know what you mean?" The silver-haired boy's eyes narrowed as he spoke in a steely tone, "You pretend you're happy _all the time_ , but I know that's a lie. You say you're fine, but that is also a lie. You act like everything is normal, but it. Is. A. Lie. And do you know _how_ I know?" The stunned brunette could only shake his head slowly. "Your eyes give you away," Riku said lowly, "I'm not blind, Sora. I can see the pain in there. Now…you are going to _tell me_ what is bothering you _and_ you are going to _tell me the truth_! Otherwise…I'm telling my parents that you've been lying to them… They'll be _really upset_ because they really believed you were doing better…but we both know you aren't…don't we?" The silver-haired boy cocked his head to the side with a raised eyebrow as he finished. Sora swallowed hard; the last thing he wanted was for his godparents to find out he was still miserable. It was bad enough that Riku had figured it out. The problem was…he wasn't sure he _could_ make himself talk about it. "I…," he whispered, "don't know if I can…"

This was exactly what Riku had been afraid of; Sora had been lying for so long that he simply couldn't tell the truth when he wasn't under some form of stress. The older boy hated to subject his young friend to further trauma, but he had no choice. "I hate to do this to you, Sora," he whispered coldly, "But I don't know how else I can get you to open up…" He still had the younger boy by the arm, and tightened his grip as he dragged the other boy to the one place he _knew_ would prompt a reaction: the brothers' room. The brunette's eyes widened as he realized where they were going and started to try to pull away. "No," he whimpered, "I can't… Please don't make me go in there… Please no… It hurts…" Riku closed his eyes as he reached out for the door and hesitated, "I know. I wouldn't have to go this far if you would just tell me how you are really feeling, though." "But I _can't_ ," the younger boy moaned in distress. The older boy only sighed as he gripped the doorknob, "I know…" He opened the door, shoved his friend in, and shut the door behind him as he entered before leaning against it. The older boy's aquamarine eyes were cold as he stared at his sprawled friend. "We are going to stay in here with your brother until you are willing to talk," he stated firmly. Sora cringed and looked up at his older brother's bed; he still hadn't moved…and the guilt started to claw its way back out again. He started to shake with the effort of holding his feelings in, but with their trigger so close it was a losing battle. The brunette slowly sat up as he continued to stare at Vanitas' comatose form. He started to tear up as his troubled emotions sunk their fangs into his Heart and he _ached_. The younger boy drew his knees up to his chest and buried his head in his arms as he struggled to maintain control; however, he was not his brother. He did not have the older boy's intense self-discipline borne of _years_ of controlling the Darkness, and his resolve started to fail.

Sora and Riku remained in their respective positions for close to a half an hour before the younger boy finally gave in. "Okay," he whispered brokenly. The silver-haired boy blinked as he snapped out of his own musings and focused on his young friend, "Hm?" "I'll tell you," the brunette continued at a louder volume. The older boy left his position against the door and sat down next to his friend, "I'm listening." The other boy slowly looked up at his older friend and started to speak, "I miss him." The taller boy blinked in surprise, "Uh, he _is_ lying right there, you know." "It's not the same," Sora continued morosely, "His body is there…but Vanitas…he doesn't move…he doesn't talk…he doesn't do…anything… He's here…but he isn't… I don't miss him being nearby. I miss _him!_ I miss the way his face lights up when he spars with us, the way he smirks and shakes his head when I do something he thinks is silly, the way his eyes literally glow when he practices his abilities, the way he sighs and scolds me when I eat too fast, the way his entire face just softens when he's content, and just…everything. I just miss my brother…and _it's my fault he's like this_!" The younger boy wailed at the end as he buried his face again. Riku blinked again and frowned, "How the heck is it your fault? It was Akira who hurt him, right? Not you." Neither boy noticed that Vanitas had started to stir as Sora's sobs drowned out the sound of his weak movements. "He stayed behind because of _me_ ," the younger boy moaned as the guilt tore at him, "He fought Akira so I would have time to get away! He threw up that Shield of his so that man couldn't get me, but I couldn't get to him either! I just stood there and watched Akira nearly beat him to death and _I couldn't do anything_! And when he came after me…Vanitas killed him…even though he was really, really hurt…and _nearly died_! He sacrificed himself for _me! How can I NOT feel responsible for this?!_ " The broken little boy's voice slowly rose as he confessed his feelings of guilt until he was shouting at the end. He broke off into strangled sobs for a bit before he continued, "I didn't want anyone to know…because Vanitas deserves everyone's concern more than I do. _He's_ the one who nearly died. I just stood there and was useless… I don't deserve to have people worry about me, so I hid everything. Only it won't stop _hurting! WHY WON'T IT STOP?!_ "

Riku opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a weak snort. "Sora, you idiot," a soft voice rasped, "You just don't get it." Sora froze and looked up as Riku's head snapped over to the figure on the bed. Tired golden-yellow eyes stared back at them as their owner smirked weakly, "I promised I'd protect you. The only one to blame for my condition…is me for my own stubbornness. Seriously, it is _not_ that hard to figure out." "Vani," the younger boy whimpered. Vanitas' smirk softened into a gentle smile, "Hey, squirt." The brunette started to shake before he launched himself at his older brother's prone body with a glad cry, "YOU'RE AWAKE!" The black-haired boy yelped as the impact made his remaining injuries protest vehemently, "GYAH! OW! Fucking hell…" Sora immediately drew back and cringed, "Sorry. I just…" "I know. I was listening," the older boy grunted, "Injured, not deaf." "How are you feeling," Riku asked. The golden-eyed boy shot his friend a look that clearly said 'that is the stupidest question I have ever heard and you are an idiot for asking it' before promptly ignoring him to focus on his trembling younger brother. "Sora listen," Vanitas said seriously, "There is no way that anything that happened…uh… How long have I been out?" "A month," the silver-haired boy supplied which earned him a thankful nod. "Right. As I was saying, there is no way that anything that happened last month is your fault. You were completely innocent in every sense of the word," the older boy continued, "I chose to stay behind of my own free will. I knew full well my choice could end with my death," the black-haired boy paused and shrugged weakly, "I figured it was worth it. You may have been _part_ of the reason I chose to stay behind…but another was I just wanted to make Akira pay for killing Mom. If I could just make him feel a fraction of the pain I did when I saw her…" His voice trailed off as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath that made him wince – his ribs were still damaged – before he finished quietly, "I was selfish. I never meant for you to be hurt, though. I'm sorry my decision caused you such pain… Forgive me…"

Vanitas coughed a bit as he finished his monologue and grimaced as he rubbed his throat. 'Note to self,' he winced, 'No long speeches after being out for a month. Ah, my ribs fucking hurt... Why is it _always_ the ribs?! Seriously!' Sora stared at his older brother as he took in his words, "Forgive you? For what?" Riku face-palmed and sighed, "Selfish choice?" The black-haired boy glanced at his friend and nodded in confirmation; his throat was still feeling pretty raw. The brunette frowned, "But how can I forgive you for something I don't blame you for?" The older boy gave his brother an incredulous stare as the younger continued, "I mean, okay, I guess I can see where you're coming from. Your choice made me blame myself for a whole month. But you didn't _mean_ for it to happen. I just reacted badly. That isn't your fault. It's mine." Vanitas stared at his brother before he rasped, "You…make no sense… I just told you it wasn't your fault!" "And I accept that you being hurt _wasn't_ my fault," Sora replied blandly, "But how I _reacted_ to you being hurt was. I'm guilty for feeling guilty." Riku stared at his younger friend as his older one facepalmed and groaned in annoyance. "Sora…," the silver-haired boy managed, "That is the craziest thing I have ever heard." The brunette only grinned cheekily, his first honest one in a month, and stuck out his tongue. "It's not crazy," he proclaimed as he stuck a finger in the air, "It's the truth!" "It's crazy," both older boys responded in deadpan. Sora pouted, "It makes sense to me…" Vanitas let his head fall back onto his pillow with a sigh, 'I have not been awake long enough to handle this shit…' Riku simply shook his head and smiled faintly, 'Well…at least Sora isn't miserable anymore.' All in all, his plan had worked out better than he had hoped. Admittedly, it was greatly aided by his injured friend breaking out of his coma at _exactly_ the right time, but a win is a win.

Sora grinned happily as he told his godparents that Vanitas had finally woken up. "He's kind of cranky though," the brunette admitted thoughtfully, "I think he's still really sore." Touya blinked, "He's already awake? I thought it would be at least another month…" Mikazuki only shook her head in amusement, "It is faster than normal, even for a Darkness wielder, but this _is_ Vanitas we're talking about. He excels at defying expectations." "True," the silver-haired man sighed. "Can we make him something special for dinner," the young boy asked his godparents eagerly, "I'm sure he's tired of soup and smoothies by now!" The amber-eyed woman laughed awkwardly, "Sora, he was in a coma. I doubt he even registered what he was being fed." She faltered as the brunette child gave her a teary-eyed pout before she relented, "But I suppose it wouldn't hurt. What do you think he'd like?" Sora beamed, "Pizza!" Riku snorted from where he leaned against the doorway, "That's what _you'd_ like, Sora. Try again." The brunette stuck his tongue out at his friend before thinking hard. Finally he brightened and pumped his fist in the air, "One of his favorite meals is steak with potato salad and applesauce on the side!" "And how does he like his steak," Mikazuki asked. The young boy stuck his tongue out in disgust, "He's weird. He likes it rare. Really rare. The bloodier the better he always said. Blech…" Touya rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I'm…not even surprised anymore." Riku just looked slightly green, 'Please tell me that's just a Vanitas thing and not a Darkness related thing…' The amber-eyed woman sighed, "That…is unexpected, but if that's how he likes it…" She trailed off as even she looked a little disgusted which _did_ reassure her son that it was most likely a Vanitas thing. She finally rallied and asked Sora how he liked his steak; the boy's response was prompt. "Dead," he grinned widely, "like jerky. Vanitas always grumbled that I preferred it to taste like charcoal. He's wrong. I just don't like pink food." "That," the dark-haired woman smiled slightly, "I can do." The brunette only beamed happily; he was just relieved that the guilt was finally gone. Part of him was a bit worried about his brother though. 'Vanitas tried to blame himself for what happened,' the boy considered as he watched the Shimomuras discuss their steak preferences, 'I hope he doesn't go too far… My guilt almost ate me alive… I don't want the same thing to happen to him…not after everything else he's been through…'

 **A/N:** And that's another chapter done. I don't think the comic book I had Sora read actually exists nor is it particularly based on anything. I just made it up because it seemed like something I think a little kid would read and enjoy. I don't really read too many comic books…well aside from Sonic the Hedgehog. Only the first 50 volumes though; I…kind of felt like the series started going downhill after they killed off Robotnik. Do not even get me STARTED on the Sonic Adventures tie in. I _hate_ his new design… Classic Sonic all the way! I have strong opinions about this and nothing anybody says is going to change them, so don't even try! I'm stubborn. I…kind of struggled to write Sora. I honestly suck at writing happy people, so I ended up giving the kid a bit of a guilt problem. He pretty much gets over it by the end of the chapter though. He really only needed to hear his brother say it wasn't his fault in order to heal. If only real guilt was that easy to get rid of… I have a massive guilt complex that kind of dominates my life. Most of the time I'm not even feeling guilt for anything in particular I've done; it's just randomized background guilt. It's weird. Anyways, back to Sora. He actually turned out a lot more realistic than I was expecting; he is just so ridiculously upbeat in the games that I want to shake him and yell at the kid to stop being so happy. I don't have a problem with happiness per se….just unrealistically excessive happiness. Which canon Sora is guilty of more often than not. I like that my Sora is turning out to be more balanced. He's still going to be happy and optimistic, but he's also going to have his serious moments. Wow….this note got long. Next chapter is Vanitas dealing with his reaction to the events of chapter six! He's…not going to be handling it too well… Just…wait and see….


	9. Healing

**A/N:** So this is a Vanitas chapter. He still needs to come to terms with what happened, but…he's not going to get over it as easily as Sora. Vanitas is broken, people. Now you're going to see exactly _how_ broken. Don't worry. I'm not about to make him into a suicidal angst bucket. However…he does have some mourning to do, not to mention….….from a very, very, very, very, very specific viewpoint….one could argue that the reason Akira snapped is because of Vanitas' Darkness…. _and the kid knows this_. End result? Self-loathing. A _lot_ of self-loathing. That's even _worse_ than guilt. He'll be stable by the end of this chapter…but stable doesn't mean he's over it. It just means he's functional. This trauma is going to be driving him for…well…pretty much the rest of this book and all the way into the later portions of book five. I am _not_ nice to my protagonists when I write; not nice at all…

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ You know the drill by now. The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 8: Healing

Vanitas yawned and opened his eyes only to realize that Sora was sitting on his bed and staring at his face. Again. The older boy rolled his eyes and sighed, "Really? I'm not going to fall back into a coma, you know." The younger boy gave an awkward laugh, "Eh heh…. Sorry. I just can't help worrying. You were out for a really long time…" The black-haired boy sighed again, "Whatever…" The brunette frowned as his older brother turned his head to face the wall and just stared at it blankly. Vanitas had sunk into a depressive state not long after he regained consciousness and rarely spoke anymore. His earlier exasperated statement was his liveliest response in days. If he had to communicate it was mostly in short, clipped sentences, monosyllabic noises, and vague gestures. Sora bit his lip as he took in his older sibling's blank expression. He could feel the churning emotions the other boy was hiding through their link, but they were so weak and jumbled he couldn't work out what they were. It was clear that _something_ was really bothering his brother; however, he also knew that getting him to open up about it was effectively impossible. The years of abuse he had suffered, as well as the boy's own intense self-discipline, had left him with no chinks in the armor around his Heart that could be exploited for that purpose. Vanitas could keep a secret indefinitely, and that worried the younger boy. He tentatively reached out and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder drawing a quick glance from the older boy. "I'm going to head down for breakfast," he smiled weakly, "Want me to bring you anything." Golden-yellow eyes studied the younger boy intently before flicking back to the wall as their owner remained silent. Finally, the other boy murmured, "I'm not really hungry…" Blue eyes glimmered with unease as their owner reluctantly drew away, "Okay… But you'll let me know when you are, right?" "Mm," the ebony-haired boy's response was typically vague and disinterested. Sora chose to take his brother's reaction as a 'yes' and forced a cheerful smile, "Great! I'll be back later, okay? See you then!"

Vanitas waited until the younger boy left the room before he let his control loosen slightly. The black-haired boy closed his eyes as an expression of heart-wrenching sorrow flickered across his face. "I'm sorry, Sora….," he whispered brokenly, "I'm so sorry…" He clutched at his chest as his emotions surged within him; grief over his mother's death, regret for hurting his brother with his choice to stay behind and fight, relief that the younger boy was unharmed, the old familiar hatred born of years of Akira's abuse, disbelief that the man was actually dead, shock that he'd actually killed someone, and a crushing tide of self-loathing. It was that final emotion that was currently causing him the most torment. 'Why,' he wondered despondently, 'does Sora still care about me? Doesn't he realize that if it weren't for me none of this would have happened? That it's _my_ fault mom's…' A sob escaped him as he weakly rolled onto his left side and curled into a ball, "…dead…. Both of them….are dead….because of me…." Tears streamed out of his eyes as his body was wracked by muffled sobs. Vanitas cringed as his ribs protested his emotional outburst, but he needed to let _some_ of the pain out. He was far too close to breaking under the pressure of keeping it all inside as it was. At least this way he could bleed it off a little bit at a time and keep the pain to a minimum. 'But maybe,' he considered, 'I deserve to be in pain. Akira may have been a deluded idiot, but he wasn't entirely wrong… If my existence is the reason for all of this…then I deserve to suffer… Sora…I've caused you so much pain… I've taken both of your parents away… How… How could you forgive me? You shouldn't… Not for this… I guess…' "I really am a monster," the broken child moaned, "aren't I?" The self-loathing in his Heart seethed and churned as the black-haired boy struggled against his growing despair. The love shared by the two brothers had once been his greatest strength…now it was tearing him apart.

By the time Sora returned to the room, Vanitas had cried himself out and was utterly exhausted. He was just starting to drift off when the door slammed open and his younger brother ran into the room with a giddy smile on his face. "KAIRI'S COMING OVER," the young boy crowed happily. "Wha…," his dazed brother blinked. The cheerful brunette was bouncing in place as he explained, "You know how I told you Kairi got back from her trip a week ago? She finally talked her parents into letting her come over to visit! I can tell her you're awake! She's been so worried!" The black-haired boy cringed internally at that as the self-loathing surged. 'Wonderful…,' he thought guiltily, 'As if making the Shimomuras upset, and taking _everything_ away from Sora wasn't bad enough… My selfishness hurt Kairi, too. Can I really do _nothing_ right?!' Sora frowned involuntarily as he felt another weak twinge of some strange emotion from his brother in his Heart only this time Vanitas noticed the change in expression. He was starting to notice a pattern in his younger brother, but hadn't quite made the connection between his brother's abruptly changing facial expressions and his own emotions. He was getting close though. "Is it all right if she comes up to say 'hi'," the younger boy asked as he watched his brother closely; he still had no idea what that emotion was, but it did _not_ feel nice. The older boy let his eyes close and mumbled, "Tired. I'll probably be asleep." The brunette scratched his head thoughtfully, "What if I check first to see if you're awake? You won't mind if you're already awake will you?" The black-haired boy sighed, "Whatever. Guess not. Now let me sleep." Sora, while troubled by his brother's sudden lethargy, was more than willing to accommodate him; he hadn't expected Vanitas to be willing to see their female friend considering his recent depression. 'Maybe she can cheer him up,' the boy thought hopefully as he walked back out of the room. For his part, the older boy did try to fall asleep, but he was preoccupied by his brother's sudden mood changes. 'What is _up_ with him,' he wondered, 'He hasn't been too depressed since I woke up…but he's definitely been acting weird…' He continued pondering his brother's strange behavior for about a half an hour before he finally managed to drop off…but not before he had one last thought. 'It's strange…but his face only seems to change when _I'm_ feeling something,' the boy realized drowsily, 'But that can't be it… We'd have to have some sort of mystical connection or something. That sort of thing just doesn't happen… Then again…I can use Darkness… Maybe…it isn't so impossible… But…Dear Light…how I hope it is… He shouldn't have to suffer…because of _me_ …'

Vanitas slept for the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon. Sora kept checking periodically to see if his brother was awake yet as Kairi had arrived not long after he left his brother to his rest. The red-head _really_ wanted to see her black-haired friend. The dark-haired boy moaned slightly as he woke up; he was really starting to prefer sleep to being conscious. His emotions didn't torture him as much when he was out cold. For all he that believed he deserved to suffer for his perceived failings the grieving child still didn't enjoy being in pain regardless of whether it was physical or emotional. Gold eyes flicked open and scanned the room; he was relieved to find that his brother seemed to be holding to his word not to bring their mutual friend up unless the older boy was awake. Vanitas wasn't particularly eager to see the girl, in all honestly, but he figured he owed her the chance to see that he was getting better. 'Well,' the boy mused sardonically, 'At least my body is getting better. My emotions…not so much. I wonder if it's possible to die from a broken Heart. At the rate I'm going…I'm gonna find out personally…' The black-haired boy thumped his head against his pillow in frustration. "I," he muttered, "have got to stop thinking. I'm gonna drive myself nuts." Sora poked his head in right then and brightened as he realized that his older brother was finally awake. "Finally," the younger boy grinned, "I was starting to wonder if you were going to sleep all day!" "Hn," Vanitas grunted in response. "I'll go get Kairi," the brunette proclaimed, "Be right back!" The older boy groaned quietly as his younger brother vanished, "Great…" He started to wonder when he became so reluctant to see the people who were closest to him as he waited. 'Maybe,' the golden-eyed boy considered, 'It's because I don't want to hurt them anymore than I already have. I mean, it's not like I _want_ to keep causing them pain, but I just keep messing things up. They'd…' "…Be better off without me," he murmured despondently, "Why am I even here…?"

Sora arrived with Kairi in tow a few minutes after he'd left; the red-haired girl's face visibly brightened when she saw the older boy was awake. "Vanitas," she exclaimed, "You're okay!" She ran over and lightly embraced her bed-ridden friend; the boy stiffened slightly before he forced himself to relax. "Kairi," Vanitas murmured, "No nickname?" The blue-eyed girl shook her head, "Not until you're better! My older cousin, Taki, is an apprentice healer in Yume and she said anything that causes stress is bad for injured people. I know you hate that nickname, and hate causes stress. You get a break for a bit." The dark-haired boy sighed, "Don't hate it _that_ much…" The young girl glanced at her brown-haired friend, "He doesn't talk much now, does he?" "Right here," the older boy grumbled as his brother placed a hand behind his head awkwardly. "Uh… No, not really. His ribs are still kind of messed up, though," the younger boy admitted, "I think it still hurts to talk." Kairi fixed her older friend with a pitying look which made a flare of irritation shoot through him; irritation which Sora picked up on causing the younger boy to cringe. Once again, Vanitas noticed the twitch and his eyes narrowed. "Sora," he growled, "What's wrong?" "Huh," the brunette blinked, "Uh, nothing. Why?" "Random twitches and mood changes," the older boy snapped with a short glare, "Why?" "Should I leave," the red-head wondered aloud. "No," the blue-eyed boy yelped. "Yes," his brother replied with another glare at his brother, "Please." The younger boy started to sweat nervously as he realized that his brother was close to uncovering their linked Hearts, and he honestly thought the revealing the link at this particular time was a bad idea. He prayed that Kairi would be curious enough to stick around and buy him some time to ask the older Shimomuras for advice. Fortunately, his prayers were answered as the red-head hummed thoughtfully and grinned. "No, I think I'll stay. I haven't noticed anything weird about Sora. Well, weirder than is normal for boys." Vanitas scowled at her and snorted in annoyance, "I can wait. We _will_ talk, Sora. Count on it."

Kairi matched her bed-ridden friend's scowl with one of her own, "What's so important that you can't talk about it around me?!" Vanitas rolled his eyes and sighed, "Don't know. Why we need to talk. Best if it stays private for now. Sorry." The red-head's scowl lingered a bit longer before she finally relented and nodded, "All right. I guess that's fair. Um…" She trailed off as she started to bite her lip. "Kairi," Sora worried, "Is something wrong?" The black-haired boy frowned uneasily as his female friend continued to hesitate, 'I have a bad feeling about this…' The girl finally sighed and admitted, "I really had to fight with my parents to allow me to come over today. The villagers have come up with some really nasty rumors about you guys, and you know how my folks are," she paused and rolled her eyes in exasperation, "They believe _everything_. Part of the reason I wanted to come over so I could find out the truth behind the rumors. I need more ammo to get my parents to chill out." The two brothers looked at each other and shared a moment of dread for the questions they were likely to be asked. "Um," Sora managed weakly, "You know I only recently came to terms with things myself, and Vanitas hasn't been out of his coma that long. I mean, you said it yourself that stress is bad…" He trailed off as he realized his older brother was glaring at him again. "Sora," the other boy growled, "Shut up. Ask your questions, Kairi." Kairi took a deep breath and crossed her arms, "Most of the rumors are bogus. The most ridiculous is that Vanitas devoured your guys' parents' souls and has Sora and the Shimomuras enslaved." Vanitas blinked at that one, "What?!" "Stupid, huh," the red-head giggled before she turned serious, "But there are a few others that seem a bit more realistic. Vanitas," she fixed her eyes on the older boy sadly, "did your dad really try to kill you guys?" The black-haired boy answered firmly, "Yes. Killed mom first. Tried to kill us." The girl flinched, "That's terrible! Why?" "Went crazy," the golden-eyed boy replied with a scornful snort, "Thought it would save us."

Kairi stared at her friend in shock, "Save you?! How is murdering everyone going to save you?!" "He _was_ crazy," Sora offered. "More to save _them_ from _me_ ," Vanitas interrupted in a bleak tone. "From _you_ ," the red-head blinked in surprise, "What did you do?" "Exist," the black-haired boy stated flatly, "Akira considered me a monster. Drove him mad." "Your own father," the girl deadpanned, "thought you were a monster… No wonder you had such a good idea of what hatred was… Ouch." The red-head sighed, "Okay, next rumor you kind of already refuted. Everyone seems to think that Akira was a _wonderful_ person who suddenly went crazy because you drove him to that point. Obviously, that's not true." The eight-year old huffed in annoyance, "Understatement. Akira was an ass. Trouble was building for years. They got one thing right. Wouldn't have gone crazy if not for me…" "Akira had a lot of problems," Sora insisted, "You can't blame yourself for that." His older brother sighed and glanced away, 'Easy for you to say. You've no idea just how much at fault I really am…' Kairi nodded thoughtfully, "I agree. I may not have met your dad that many times, but even I could tell there was something a bit off about him the past few years. I'm guessing that's when he _really_ started slipping." She then paused for a bit and shifted uncomfortably before continuing, "Um, the next rumor is one I'm kind of hoping is _not_ true. Um…" She hesitated again before the red-haired girl finally blurted out, "Everyone says you killed your father!" Vanitas flinched and looked at the wall, "It's true… Didn't want to… But… He would have killed, Sora… Had no choice…" The dark-haired boy swallowed hard as his female friend remained silent. "D'you…hate me now," he whispered sadly. Kairi shook her head slowly, "I don't… I just… He really was going to kill, Sora?" The brunette spoke up at that point, "He was. I owe my brother my life." The older boy flinched as the self-loathing surged powerfully at his brother's words. 'But if it weren't for me,' the golden-eyed boy admitted internally, 'you wouldn't have been in danger in the first place. You'd have had a happy childhood… It's all my fault…' The spike was so bad that Sora had to bite his tongue to keep from yelping as it registered. 'What was _that_ ,' he wondered as he tried not to flinch in response to the dark and twisted feeling bleeding over the link, 'Please tell me you don't feel like that all the time, Vani…' Kairi was entirely unaware of the sudden emotional spike and resultant bleed-over; instead she leaned over and hugged Vanitas again as she tried not to cry. "I am so, so sorry, Vanitas," she whispered sadly, "It must have been horrible…" The ebony-haired boy swallowed hard and weakly returned the hug. "Worse than you can imagine," he breathed as some of the pain he felt bled through into his voice. The red-head bit her lip as she leaned back, "You're still hurting a lot, aren't you?" The older boy nodded slowly and silently in response. His emotions were starting to rage again, and it was growing increasingly difficult to keep them contained. Sora was also struggling to keep from reacting to the increasing emotional leakage from his brother; they'd never come through so strongly before.

"Can I be alone now," the dark-haired boy asked tightly as he squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists in his sheets, "Please?" Kairi responded quickly, "Of course! I didn't mean to upset you! Oh, Light…" "S'fine," the older boy responded shortly, "Don't blame you." "But-," the red-head started to protest before her bed-ridden friend cut her off. "Not. Your. Fault," he stated firmly as he looked her in the eyes. The black-haired boy then smirked weakly, "Boring in here anyway. Go have fun." The girl gave her friend a watery smile as she nodded back, "Okay. I'll see you later, Vanitas." "Later," he replied weakly. Sora shot his brother a worried look as he followed their red-haired friend out, but said nothing. The emotions he was getting were still extremely jumbled, but they were finally strong enough for him to register just how horrible they all felt. He realized right then and there that Vanitas was hurting far worse than he was letting on. 'He must be in sheer agony,' the younger boy realized in horror, 'Kingdom Hearts! Hasn't he suffered enough?! I need to tell Aunt Mika and Uncle Touya! There is no _way_ I can help him like he and Riku helped me!' The golden-eyed boy started to breathe heavily as the door closed; he was only just managing to keep his raging feelings in check, but the effort made his Heart feel like it was coming apart at the seams. 'I can't take much more of this,' he realized, 'Dammit, Akira! Even when you're gone the pain just won't _stop_!' A strangled moan burst out of his throat as he rolled onto his side, drew his knees up into a fetal position, and clutched at his chest tightly with both hands. 'Breaking,' the thought occurred to him, 'My Heart… It's breaking…' The pain was utterly agonizing; far worse than that which he'd experienced when the boy had realized his parents didn't love him when he was two. He started to tremble as the pain refused to fade. Vanitas was falling apart, and this time his brother's love alone would not be enough to pull him back together. He lay there for hours, fighting back the urge to scream, before the pain finally started to die down and the dark-haired boy slowly went limp. 'I can't do this anymore,' he admitted to himself, 'Not and stay sane… So this must be what it feels like…to die of Heart break… Guess Akira won after all.' Pained golden eyes slowly glazed over as they slid shut, and the heart-broken child passed out once more.

Vanitas awakened to someone lightly shaking his shoulder. "Vanitas," an older female voice coaxed, "Wake up." His eyes fluttered open and he glanced over; a small part of him was hoping that everything he'd experienced lately had just been a dream and that it was his mother. This feeble hope was dashed when his eyes focused on his godmother's concerned face with Sora hovering behind her. "Aunt…Mika…," he breathed weakly as he tried to fight off his exhaustion, "What…?" "Vanitas," Mikazuki's eyes were stern, but deeply concerned, "Sora tells me that you've been trying to deal with your grief on you own, but also that it isn't going so well. I was hoping you'd be willing to talk it out with me." The dark-haired boy blinked slowly, "Sora…? How…would he know…?" The brunette took a deep breath and steeled himself; it was time to come clean about their connection. "I always know when you're upset or in pain," he admitted, "I've been able to for as long as I can remember. Our Hearts are linked, Vanitas…and lately…I can't even recognize the emotions that have been bleeding through. They all feel terrible though, so I know they can't be good for you." Vanitas' exhaustion vanished in a flash only to be replaced by a mix of shock, horror, and fury. "You…can feel…what I'm feeling," the older boy spoke slowly as he struggled to accept what he'd been told. "Not always," Sora confessed uneasily, "Only when it's really strong. Like…um…now…" "AND YOU DIDN'T THINK YOU SHOULD TELL ME," the dark-haired boy's temper finally snapped as he shouted angrily, "WHAT THE HELL, SORA?!" "I'm sorry," the younger boy wailed as he cringed backwards, "I wasn't entirely sure why I could do it or what it even was! It was only after you nearly died that I worked it all out, and by then I _couldn't_ tell you 'cause you were unconscious! And then after you woke up you were so miserable that I didn't think you needed to have the link to worry about on top of everything else!" "Then why tell me now," Vanitas hissed angrily as his eyes started to glow; for the first time since he'd awoken the Darkness was stirring. Mikazuki frowned as she realized what was happening. "Vanitas calm down," she gripped the boy's arm tightly, "You're calling your powers. I doubt you want to hurt anyone…particularly Sora." The dark-haired boy froze in horror at the thought of hurting his brother any more than he already had, but for the first time in his life he couldn't rein the Darkness back in. 'I won't hurt my brother again,' he vowed as he struggled to find another outlet for his powers, 'I _won't. I WON'T!_ '

Instinct kicked in once more as Vanitas reached into his Heart for the seething emotions lying in wait. His eyes were tightly shut in concentration as he grasped at the strongest of them – his self-loathing –, tied it to the Darkness, and shoved it _out_ and _away_. He distantly heard Mikazuki gasp in surprise and Sora yelp, but as they weren't pained noises he blocked them out. He was more focused on the fact that whatever he'd done had calmed his powers back down; the boy also noticed a sudden feeling of emptiness where his self-loathing had been. It felt…nice. He was startled into opening his eyes when he felt something nudge his arm…and it didn't feel like anything he recognized. A small group of bluish-purple creatures with red slits for eyes sat next to him on his bed and on the floor nearby. One of the creatures had nudged him with its paw and was watching him curiously. *What do you want us to do, master,* he heard a soft voice ask. Golden eyes widened as he stared at the creature that had nudged him, "Did…did you just…speak?" The creature nodded, *Of course, I did.* "What are you," the confused boy asked shakily. *I don't know,* came the creature's honest response, *I just woke up and saw you and knew you were my master. Can I bite someone? I want to bite someone.* "Uh," Vanitas stammered uneasily, "No… No biting." *Aw…,* the creature grumbled. "Uh, Vanitas," Sora asked nervously, "Why are you talking to that thing like it can talk back?" The dark-haired boy froze as he turned his head towards his brother's position, "You…can't hear it?" The brunette shook his head vigorously and squeaked slightly as one of the other creatures moved over to sniff at his shoes. "Hey," the golden-eyed boy snapped, "Back away from my brother!" *I was just curious,* a slightly different 'sounding' voice replied, *No need to get mad, master.* Mikazuki could only stare at the creatures in disbelief. "I always thought they were just stories," she murmured. "You know what they are," Vanitas blinked in surprise, "I asked this one," he gestured to the one next to his hand, "and it said it didn't know what it was." "I'm not surprised," the amber-eyed woman replied, "The stories always referred to them as 'those who are not well versed in their own existence'. Or Unversed." "Unversed," the dark-haired boy whispered as he turned his gaze back to the closest creature, or rather Unversed, which was scratching its ear/antenna thing absently. "Does not," Sora griped, "explain what they are." Mikazuki shrugged, "The stories also referred to them as 'fledgling emotions' if that helps."

Vanitas froze at that and paled drastically before he breathed in shock, "So _that's_ what I did…" Mikazuki looked at the stunned boy curiously, "What are you talking about?" The dark-haired boy swallowed hard before he slowly tried to explain what he'd done. "I couldn't get the Darkness to settle back down," he stated as he scratched at the nearest Unversed's head which made it purr happily, "So I tried to find another outlet. I reached for one of the emotions that has been giving me a hard time, no offense," he made a quick apology as one of the other Unversed gave him a hurt look before continuing, "and tied it to as much of the Darkness as I could grasp. Then I just willed the mass to separate from me and hoped it wouldn't hurt anyone." "That must have been what made those creatures pop up," Sora realized before he paled as well, "But that means…" "I can create monsters," Vanitas finished in a disbelieving whisper. *We're not bad, master,* one of the other Unversed said petulantly, *We won't hurt anyone unless you tell us to.* "Why me," the stunned boy moaned as his head flopped back onto the pillow. *You created us,* another Unversed replied, *That makes you our master _and_ the only one we will _ever_ listen to… Unless you order us to listen to someone else…but we won't like it.* The dark-haired boy glanced at the Unversed that had spoken and raised an eyebrow, "Um…that wasn't a question…but thanks I guess." "What did it say," Mikazuki asked curiously. Vanitas relayed the Unversed's response which made Sora grin brightly. "You have your own personal army! That is so cool," he gushed. The Unversed near his foot puffed up in pride, *The short one thinks we're cool! I like him! He's my new pet!* "My brother," the golden-eyed boy brought his hand up to rub the bridge of his nose, "is not your pet." *Slave?* "That's even worse," he snapped. *…Giver of Head Scratches?* "Fine. Whatever," the exasperated boy grumbled. "What just happened," the brunette wondered aloud. "That one," Vanitas pointed to the Unversed looking expectantly up at his brother, "Wants you to be its official Giver of Head Scratches. It was better than the other two suggestions." "I know one was pet," the confused boy admitted as he leaned over to accommodate the begging Unversed, "But what was the other?" "Slave," the older boy deadpanned making his brother freeze and stare at the purring Unversed at his feet. "You are one messed up little…thing," the younger boy stated flatly.

Mikazuki coughed slightly, "Um, there is one other thing I remember from the old stories." Both boys and all the Unversed turned to look at the woman curiously. She continued, "There are multiple varieties. Each borne of a different emotion or combination of emotions. They're honestly kind of ambiguous figures. Because they are creatures of emotion they have a connection to the Heart, but they don't attack people for them like Heartless or Lumens. They draw their strength from the Heart of whoever created them, so they should be harmless. The problem is…" She trailed off which made Vanitas start to worry which in turn made the Unversed agitated, "What? What is the problem?" "People with the ability to create Unversed are extremely rare," Mikazuki explained slowly, "They tend so show up maybe once every few centuries if even that. Only…the ability tends to reflect poorly on the individual in question because they tend to be _extremely_ unstable. Most were considered to be completely insane before the end of their lives…also they tend to…um…die young. Really young. As in none has ever been recorded as reaching even thirty years of age." "Vanitas is _not_ insane," Sora snapped indignantly as his brother sighed morosely. "Knew it," he muttered. "Huh, what," the brunette blinked as he turned to his brother. "I knew I was doomed," the older boy stated flatly, "It doesn't matter what I do. Well, fine then. But I am _not_ going down easily. Fuck that." "Vanitas," Mikazuki scolded, "Language!" Vanitas only laughed bitterly which made the Unversed even _more_ agitated. "Uh, Vani," the brunette child squeaked, "Your Unversed are looking kind of angry…" The black-haired boy froze and stared at his younger brother, "You…haven't called me that in years…" The Unversed abruptly calmed down and started to purr happily. Sora flushed, "Um…I've kind of been calling you that in my head ever since the second week of your coma… I really missed you, Vani. You're the only family I've got left…" The Unversed all started to gather around the younger boy and rub up against his legs like happy cats as their master stared at his brother in amazement. "You…care about me that much," he breathed, "Why…?" The brunette stared back at the older boy in shock, "What do you mean why? You're my big brother!"

Vanitas swallowed hard as he realized he had to come clean; he may not _feel_ the self-loathing anymore since it had been expelled to form the Unversed, but he was still convinced that he was responsible for the entire tragedy that had befallen the Yagamis. He didn't realize the Unversed had also stilled and were starting to make soft keening noises. "Sora," the older boy admitted slowly, "It's my fault we're even in this situation. Akira went insane because his hatred of my powers consumed him. If I didn't exist… If I hadn't been born… You'd still have your parents…" "That's stupid," Sora snapped, "Akira didn't _have_ to hate you! He didn't _have_ to go crazy! He _chose_ to keep hating you and that's what made him nuts! Not you!" The black-haired boy closed his eyes and sighed sadly, "Sora…our parents are dead because of me. It was by _my_ hand that Akira fell…and it was because she chose to support _me_ that he killed Mom…" "Are you even _listening_ to yourself," the brunette stated incredulously as Mikazuki watched the exchange with a sorrowful expression on her face, "Yeah, you killed Akira. He deserved it after everything he'd put you through. But Mom supported _both_ of us!" "I shouldn't be here," his brother hadn't even registered his younger sibling's words as he continued speaking, "I just keep hurting the people I care about even when I don't want to. I should have just…" "Don't say it," the younger boy pleaded, but in vain. "…Died," the older boy finished in a whisper. "Shut UP," Sora strode forward and slapped his brother across the face causing the boy to raise a hand up to his cheek as he stared in shock. "Listen to me," the younger boy looked his brother right in the eyes as he spoke in a disturbingly even tone, "This. Was. Not. Your. Fault. If it's anyone's its Akira's. _He's_ the one who couldn't get over his blind hatred. _He's_ the one who let his hatred drive him crazy instead of letting it go. _He's_ the one who killed mom. _He's_ the one who tried to kill us and _almost_ killed _you! Twice!_ If it weren't for your abilities I would have lost you a long time ago! I love your powers for that because I love you! How can _any_ of this be our fault? We're _kids_ , Vani! We're just kids…" Vanitas stared up at his younger sibling and felt his chest tighten at the sheer honesty in the other boy's face. Sora didn't blame him. In spite of everything that had happened, even after his confession, his younger brother did not blame him. He simply could not believe how forgiving the younger boy was, but it was quite a relief all the same. Furthermore, this was easily the most mature thing he'd ever heard his brother say and he was honestly amazed. "Sora," he breathed, "When did you grow-up so much?" The brunette froze and scratched his head, "Uh…I dunno. I never noticed… Maybe after you and Riku helped me get over my grief? Maybe when Akira started really trying to kill you? I really don't know…"

"You both are remarkably mature for your ages at times," Mikazuki interjected proudly, "Sora's insight is remarkably strong when you consider his youth, and you possess such a strong sense of responsibility. Not to mention your remarkably strong will and sense of discipline. I imagine the latter two are tied in to the fact that you are a self-taught Darkness wielder. I have never known of any other of our kind who has advanced so far off of pure instinct without completely losing their Hearts to their own power. You are both such amazing kids…" Both brothers flushed at the praise; Sora beamed happily while Vanitas turned away and coughed. The Unversed trilled happily and crowded around the bed their master lay on. *Is your Heart feeling better now, master,* one of them asked, *Can we come back?* The black-haired boy blinked in shock as he stared at them, "Come back? What do you mean?" *We may not know where we come from,* the first Unversed to speak said, *or what we are, but we know where we belong.* It scrambled up and tapped its master's chest which drove the brunette to back away a bit, *We belong in there. Will you take us back? Please?* "Yeah," the golden-eyed boy muttered thoughtfully, "I suppose I will…once I figure out how…" He frowned and stretched out his hand towards the Unversed before he paused and considered them carefully. "I'm going to call you guys Floods," he decided, "because you were born from a flood of Darkness and emotion." *Floods,* one of the other Unversed said thoughtfully, *I like it!* The boy smirked and closed his eyes in concentration as he imagined the Darkness and self-loathing separating and flowing back into him. He cringed as he felt the dark feeling return to his Heart and opened his eyes; the Unversed were gone. "I suppose," he murmured thoughtfully as he flexed the fingers of his outstretched hand, "that this means I really am the Master of the Unversed. I'm gonna have to get used to this…" "Unfortunately," Mikazuki sighed, "I won't be much help there…but I can help you train and develop your other abilities." "Um…What," Vanitas stared at his godmother in shock . "I imagine Sora told you that I, myself, come from a long line of Darkness wielders," the amber-eyed woman smirked, "But I suspect he neglected to inform you of my intention to train you." "He did," the dark-haired boy said slowly as he glared at his suddenly sheepish looking younger sibling. "Oops," Sora shrugged.

Vanitas sighed and stared up at the ceiling as he considered the day's events later that evening. He'd spent most of it in emotional agony as his Heart slowly shattered from its inability to cope on its own. Taking to Kairi hadn't really helped and actually ended up accelerating his fragmentation. By the time Sora and Mikazuki had intervened he was nearly beyond the point of no return. Then there was the revelation of the link between his and his brother's Hearts, the discovery of his own ability to create and control the Unversed, and his younger brother's adamant rejection of the black-haired boy's self-loathing. If he were honest, he still blamed himself for what had happened, but it was nice to know that the younger boy didn't. It helped drive that terrible feeling back enough that he could cope. He placed his hand on his chest as he focused inwards and sighed regretfully; his Heart was still broken. It had improved a little bit, since the self-loathing had retreated, and was finally stable; however, it wasn't really _healed_. The ache was much weaker, and far more tolerable, but it was still there. 'At least I'm used to pain,' Vanitas smirked to himself, 'I can deal with this as it is. Well…at least as long as nothing else damaging happens for a while. But…' he frowned abruptly, 'I can't be sure that nothing else _will_ happen… And I don't want to break again. I need to find some way to protect myself…some way to strengthen my Heart so that nothing will ever hurt me so badly again…' He sighed sadly as he realized what he had to do, 'I care too much… I can't afford to do that anymore…can I? Those who are precious to me…who are already in my Heart… I'll never let them go, but…I have to distance myself. As for new connections…they are going to have a long road to acceptance. I won't be cruel. I am _not_ going to let myself become a monster, but…I'm not going to be kind either. I just…can't let myself be broken again… I won't survive it…' Vanitas sighed again before he closed his eyes in resolve, 'I'll be better off this way…'

 **A/N:** Okay, so I wasn't originally planning to have the Unversed have a role just yet, but…they wanted to come in early. I think I handled them fairly well. My head-canon has the Unversed being fairly child-like and innocent creatures whose sole flaw is that they are blindly obedient to whoever creates them. They aren't naturally malicious like the Heartless. I have yet too actually play Birth by Sleep myself, to be honest. Most of what I know comes from the KH wiki, fanfiction, and hours on YouTube watching videos; I don't care if its spoilers I WANT TO KNOW THIS STUFF! Only game in the series I've actually completed as of writing this is the original game…and the first world of Re: Chains of Memories. So, back to the chapter. Vanitas is a little better now, but his Heart is far from healed. That's not going to start happening until book…um…three, four, or five. I haven't decided yet. I'm sure some of you are wondering why I keep capitalizing the word 'Heart'. That's because I am referring to the metaphorical Heart which is the seat of emotion as opposed to the physical heart which pumps blood. It helps distinguish between the two. Next the reason why I often have the words 'Darkness' and 'Light' capitalized is because I am referring to the two cardinal forces that define the KH world. If I'm referring to simply illumination or lack thereof, then they will be in the lower-case typesetting. Again, this is just to make differentiating between what I am referring to clearer. Also the reason the characters keep using the words 'Darkness', 'Light', and 'Kingdom Hearts' the way some westerners do the words 'Jesus Christ', 'God', and so on is for pretty much the same reasons that we use the latter terms. They are emotional interjections intended as a sort of plea to some form of higher power. Now for something COMPLETRLY DIFFERENT…..Floods are really cute little guys, aren't they? Then again…I think Shadow Heartless are cute…and Neo-Shadows…And Darkballs… My definition of cute is a bit off…. Hmm… Well, see you all next chapter.


	10. Another Day

**A/N:** This is pretty much going to be a 'slice of life' chapter to show how the boys are settling in to their new lives. No action or drama this chapter….well not as much. It's just going to seem kind of dull in comparison to the last three. My knowledge of rural Japanese schools is limited to what I picked up from watching part of a play-through of  Higurashi –When They Cry– on YouTube…well before I got bored and stopped….so….yeah I know basically nothing. Anyways, I'm going to be pretty much winging the school bit. If people could tell me what I'm getting wrong so I can fix it that would be great… I _hate_ being ignorant… HATE IT!

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ Why are you still reading this bit? It's never going to change. The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura.

Chapter 9: Another Day

"Are you sure you want to go through with this," Touya asked his wife as he handed her a bullhorn, "It's kind of cruel." "Not cruel," Mikazuki protested innocently as she fiddled with the volume controls, "Just…creative…and maybe a little mischievous." "So that's where Riku gets it," her husband quipped as he readied his earplugs. "I remember when we were dating," his wife commented drily, "You were no better when you were in training for the Guard, and you still have your moments." The silver-haired man only smiled back impishly and inserted his personal noise cancellation devices before slapping on a pair of earmuffs. "Ready when you are dear," he gave his wife a thumbs up as he stepped back. The dark-haired woman grinned evilly, stepped out into the hallway at the base of the stairs that also lead to Riku's room, raised the bullhorn, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of her lungs, "KIDS, ITS TIME TO GET UP!" A cry of shock sounded from the bedroom at the end of the hall, and was followed closely by two faint thumps from upstairs. Mikazuki grinned happily as she lowered the bullhorn, "Well, that was easy." She then turned and walked back into the living room to return her new favorite toy to its actual owner. 'I wonder if I can talk him into letting me borrow it every morning,' she mused, 'Then again…the kids would probably find some way to get their revenge. Darkness knows how creative Riku and Vanitas can be when they put their minds to it.'

Upstairs in the brothers' bedroom both boys were struggling to untangle themselves from their sheets. "Sora," Vanitas stated flatly as he finally freed himself. "Yeah," his brother responded from his tangle of sheets . "She's going to pay for this," the older boy deadpanned, "I don't know how, or when. But she is _going_ to regret this prank of hers." "I'll help," came the muffled response, "Uh…I think I'm making it worse… Help?" The black-haired boy walked over to his brother's bed and blinked in shock at the situation the younger boy had managed to get himself in, "How…the…hell…did you manage _that_?" Sora had somehow managed to end up with his sheets tying his arms behind his back and was wrapped in them like a cocoon; he was also hanging completely upside down from the side of his bed. "Just…don't ask," the brunette moaned from his fabric prison, "Please help me get out? It's really stuffy in here and all the blood is rushing to my head…" Vanitas sighed and got to work untangling his younger sibling, "The situations you get yourself into…" It took the older boy several minutes to free his brother from his bedclothes bonds; unfortunately, he was unable to prevent the younger boy from falling flat on his face as gravity pulled him the rest of the way out of bed. "Ow," the blue-eyed boy groaned. His brother rolled his eyes and nudged him with his foot, "Oh, get up. You were the one who was all excited yesterday about introducing me to your new friends at school, remember? It's my first day today." Sora shot up with a grin on his face, "THAT'S RIGHT!" He then tackle-hugged his older brother, "You aren't injured anymore! I can show you my desk, and you can meet my friends, and we can have lunch together, and-" The older boy slapped his hand over his brother's mouth to cut him off, "You're repeating yourself from last night, squirt. C'mon, let's just get dressed. I'm still not entirely sure what the big deal is anyways…" He finished in a vague grumble as he pried the younger boy's arms off his waist and moved to his dresser. The brunette pouted from his spot on the floor, but got to his feet and followed his older sibling's example.

The two brothers soon finished getting ready and headed down the stairs where they met their best friend. The silver-haired boy had a look of pure fury on his face as he glared at the wall which faded to a look of mild irritation when he noticed his friends. "Revenge," Riku raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "Revenge," both boys affirmed with matching evil grins. "Excellent…," their aqua-eyed friend smirked as he steepled his fingers, "Make _me_ hit my head on the floor will you…?" Vanitas gestured to his brother with a smirk, "You should have seen Sora. He managed to get himself tied up and was hanging off of his bed." Sora shot his older brother a mock betrayed look, "No! How could you reveal my shame!?" The younger boy threw an arm across his face dramatically causing the two older boys to burst out laughing. Riku shoved his young friend lightly as they headed for the dining room for breakfast, "You are such a goof, Sora." The younger boy stuck his tongue out at his older friend, "Takes one to know one!" The oldest of them merely shook his head and smiled slightly, 'I missed this…' The three boys arrived in the dining room only to freeze at the sight of the source of their recent torment. "Good morning, boys," Mikazuki greeted with a grin. "Mom," the silver-haired boy growled. "Aunt Mika," the Yagami brothers deadpanned. The amber-eyed woman plastered a look of innocence on her face, "Now what has gotten you boys in such a foul mood so early?" "Mark my words," Vanitas' eyes narrowed menacingly, "We _will_ have vengeance. You will not know how. You will not know when. But it will come. And it will be glorious…" The woman sweatdropped slightly as the two younger boys nodded their agreement, 'Okay…maybe the bullhorn wasn't such a good idea after all… I didn't think I'd set all _three_ of them off…and after only one incident, too…' Needless to say, breakfast that morning was a fairly tense affair as the three boys conversed pleasantly amongst each other while occasionally shooting evil looks Mikazuki's way. The oldest child's glances were by far the worst as he had just enough control over his Darkness to make his eyes glow brightly in short intervals; in short, he could make his eyes flash. Combined with his disturbingly convincing psychotic grin it was a pretty intimidating sight; idly, the woman wondered when Vanitas got so good at being utterly terrifying.

For his part, Touya tried to ignore the byplay between his wife and the three victims of her prank. He _had_ warned her multiple times that it was not a good idea, and she'd gone ahead with it anyways. The silver-haired man figured that, so long as the boys didn't get carried away, she deserved whatever revenge they came up with. His one addition to the breakfast conversation was an exasperated look at Vanitas' choice of clothing for the day. "Really," he asked flatly, "You're wearing that to school?" The black-haired boy blinked and looked down at his outfit, "Uh, Yeah. Why? Is there something wrong with it?" "It's just very….black," the man stated drily. "I like black," the boy responded evenly, "Besides, there's some blue and red too." "I see the red. But where is the blue supposed to be," the Watch Captain wondered. The golden-eyed child tugged on his shirt collar and replied, "My shirt. Isn't it obvious?" "It still looks black," was the response. "No, it's blue. Just a very, very dark blue," the boy smirked. Touya shook his head in exasperation, "There are also a lot of belts." "I like belts, too," was the reply. "You have strange taste in clothes, kid," the silver-haired man finally sighed. The eight-year old shrugged before returning to his meal; Vanitas still didn't see the problem with his outfit. What was wrong with loose black jeans, black sneakers and socks, a dark blue t-shirt, a black button up shirt that was only partially done up, and three dark red leather belts at his waist – two of them crossed in front – plus two more around his left thigh and both upper arms? He thought it looked cool. 'Besides,' he mused, 'It's not like I'm wearing make-up and fish nets like the guy in the magazine Yuki was reading yesterday. That maid is weird…' He soon fell back into conversation with Sora and Riku about school. "So you basically just sit around and the teacher drones at you all day," the black-haired boy asked incredulously, "How is anyone supposed to _learn_ anything?!" "Ms. Kaitou doesn't talk the entire time," the youngest boy retorted, "She asks questions and we have study time, too." "Most of the students just spend study time goofing off though," the silver-haired boy admitted, "I've heard her grumbling that it just isn't worth the effort." "What isn't," Vanitas frowned. "'Teaching kids in a backwater town'," the brunette quoted, "I have no idea what she meant by that, though…" Gold eyes narrowed, "I do…" "What," both younger boys chorused but the oldest of them refused to elaborate beyond one vague statement. "Today is gonna _suck_."

The boys left for school that morning with the Shimomura's butler as an escort. Neither of the adult Shimomuras were entirely comfortable with the idea of the boys walking all the way across the village alone. It's not like it was dangerous or anything, but Sora had a habit of getting distracted; it wasn't fair to expect both older boys to keep an eye on him. However, Mikazuki and the maids both had a day of cleaning ahead of them, and Touya had to head into work early that morning. The butler, Hiroshi Sato, was the only one who was free, so he got pegged with escort duty. Already he was questioning whether his paycheck was worth the hassle as he was forced to drag the wide-eyed brunette away from yet another mud puddle. The kid simply could _not_ resist trying to splash around in them, and mess up his good school clothes in the process. The young man couldn't afford to let his guard down for a second. "Oooh!" Hiroshi cringed as he heard Sora give a soft noise of interest and automatically grabbed for the boy's collar in response. "Sora," the hyper brown-haired boy's older brother sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Do you really have to try and jump in every puddle you see?" "Uhhh…," the younger boy pondered, "I dunno. It's just really fun!" "You're going to give Mr. Sato a headache," Vanitas warned. "Too late," the blonde man muttered as he decided he just wasn't going to let go anymore. It was the only way he was going to make it to the schoolhouse without needing to stop by the tavern on the way back to the house. "I'll talk to my parents about giving you a Sora-wrangling bonus this year," Riku promised quietly. The butler offered his employers' son a weak smile, "Thanks, young master." "Please don't call me that," the silver-haired boy moaned. "Sorry, Riku," the man's smile widened, "Emiko's rubbed off on me." "Your family employs the strangest people," the black-haired boy muttered quietly to his friend. "Tell me about it," the aqua-eyed boy whispered back, "They sure are fun, though." "No arguments there," his friend smirked back.

The boys arrived at school with no incident worse than Sora nearly choking himself as he impulsively lunged for a puddle; he'd forgotten that Hiroshi was still holding his shirt collar. Riku privately swore that he was never going to let his young friend live that down. Vanitas merely sighed and facepalmed; he was far too used to his brother's 'random idiot moments' – as he called them – over the years. The trio was eagerly greeted by a laughing, red-haired, girl-shaped missile that plowed into them when they arrived. "You're here," Kairi grinned as she hugged her three best friends happily. "Hi Kairi," the brunette hugged her back with just as much enthusiasm. "Must you do this every day," the silver-haired boy moaned in exasperation. "I think my ribs are bruised from the impact," the ebony-haired boy grumbled, "Why is it _always_ the ribs?!" The red-head grinned as she let the boys go and stepped back, "Good to see you up and about, Van." "Yeah, well staying in bed all day was getting _really_ boring," Vanitas responded as he deliberately ignored the nickname, "So this is the school, huh?" Gold eyes slowly swept over the simply constructed one story wooden building, the ramshackle wooden fence, the dirt yard with sparse grass clumps scattered here and there, and the covered lean-to grafted on to the main building; he was not impressed. 'Our farmhouse wasn't much bigger than this,' the boy scowled, 'and it was in better condition than this so-called school. What a dump!' "Yeah," Kairi responded as she took in his scornful expression, "It's not much, but my dad says most of the village funds go to supporting the Watch and maintaining their facilities. A bulk of the remainder is slated for road repairs and maintenance of the village walls. There just isn't enough left over to do much for the school beyond ensuring the schoolhouse itself stays heated in the winter, cool in the summer, and doesn't collapse in on itself." "I do _not_ have high hopes for the quality of learning," the oldest boy deadpanned as he headed in, "I really don't."

Vanitas' low expectations were fully vindicated not long after class started. Ms. Kaitou, it turned out, had a very disinterested approach to how she dealt with the class and the material she was presenting. That morning he got into no fewer than seven arguments with the teacher over the material in the textbooks, her teaching style, and her general competence as an educator. "My _mother_ was a better teacher than you," he wound up snarling at the woman, "And she was a _farm wife_ whose formal education stopped at _age eighteen_ when she got _married_! Hell, _I'm_ probably more qualified than you are and _I'm eight!_ " By the time lunch rolled around these arguments had devolved into insult volleys being flung back and forth as the class watched in fascination. They certainly ended up expanding their vocabulary, though not in the way their parents would have liked. Both Vanitas and Ms. Kaitou, it turned out, had very foul mouths and were extremely creative when it came to coming up with inventive insults. The most of the other kids loved it; Riku, Kairi, and Sora not so much. The brunette spend most of the class reading his text book and humming to himself. He was more than used to his older brother's creative use of language, and was extremely adept at tuning him out when the older boy exploded. The red-head had her hands over her ears, her eyes shut, and recited her vocabulary words for the last month as a distraction. She'd always known her older friend had a temper, but she had no idea it was quite _that_ bad when he lost it. The silver-haired boy simply groaned and buried his head in his hands every time an argument broke out. By the time it had fully degenerated he'd resorted to thumping his head off of his desk as he realized class had been fully derailed. By the time lunch break arrived, the teacher simply stormed out of the building as she declared a free lunch. The aqua-eyed boy sat closest to the door, so he was the only one who heard the woman muttering to herself about how she needed a drink. The other kids burst out in excited chatter as they gossiped about their morning while Vanitas simply stormed over to join his three friends at the corner they'd claimed and slumped down with an annoyed growl.

Sora shifted awkwardly as it abruptly occurred just how intimidating his older brother could be when he was in a bad mood. Between his dark outfit, the contrast between his pale skin, gold eyes, and black hair, and the look of utter fury still lingering on his face the older boy fairly exuded menace; the fact that his eyes were currently glowing faintly also helped. "So….," the brunette eyed his brother warily, "I'm guessing you don't like the school so far." "Understatement," the ebony-haired boy snarled as he glared at the lunches sitting on the desks, "That woman has _no right_ to be a teacher." "Was being home-schooled really that different," Kairi asked tentatively. "Well, there was a lot less yelling and a lot more learning," the younger boy quipped with a faint grin, "Though I imagine everyone learned some new vocabulary words today…" The red-head blanched as Vanitas froze and swore, "Ah, mother _fucking_ hellfire. I forgot. Shit, I'm screwed. If their parents didn't hate me before they will now. Fuck. My. Life." He then slammed his head on the desk and groaned in pure frustration. "You are the only person our age I know," Riku commented drily, "who has such a complete vocabulary of swear words _and_ uses them frequently." Kairi nodded with a stunned look still plastered on her face, "I had no idea… Where did you learn them all?" The irritated boy sighed and mumbled, "When you live on a farm you soon pick it up. Particularly after something breaks. Also Akira had a bad habit of swearing a lot when he was…ah…dealing out his punishments… So yeah. That's how." The other three cringed as their older companion casually brought up his past abuse. "It's really creepy how you are so calm about that," the red-head admitted. Vanitas shrugged as he sat back up, "Well, dwelling on it and getting depressed certainly isn't going to help or change anything. It happened. It sucked. I ended it. That's all." His voice turned cold as he finished his statement, and the young girl couldn't help but shudder as she recalled _how_ he had ended it. 'Vanitas can be really scary sometimes,' she admitted to herself, 'But I'm sure he doesn't mean to be. He's just in a bad mood right now.' Sora sighed, "Well, I can't exactly introduce my other friends when you're in a mood like this. Besides, after seeing you explode I'm going to have to work _really hard_ to get them to convince them you aren't always so angry." The older boy managed to look a bit contrite as he slumped in his seat, "I _am_ sorry about that… That teacher just really ticked me off… I didn't mean to snap, but…I just couldn't stop myself. Besides…it was probably better than the alternative." "What was the alternative," Riku wondered aloud. The older boy only gave a significant look to his younger brother whose eyes widened in realization. "Uh…yeah," the brunette managed as he imagined a crowd of Floods popping up in the middle of the classroom, "Screaming fights are way better than _that._ " The other two children shared looks of confusion as the two brothers cringed at the mental images of what _could_ have happened; those two had _way_ too many secrets for their tastes.

Lunch consisted of both Sora and Vanitas dodging questions from their inquisitive friends about this mysterious alternative; talking about the Unversed in public was _not_ an option. Fortunately, the eldest of the quartet's mood had improved significantly by the end of the break. This soured a bit when the teacher returned in a clear state of inebriation; she even _smelled_ like alcohol. She glowered darkly at the black-haired boy who returned her hostility with a glare of his own. She ended up looking away first. His golden eyes were just too intense. It was a combination of their resemblance to those of a large predator – as his own mother had once pointed out long ago – and the sheer menace he managed to channel through his gaze. Ms. Kaitou privately resolved to do her best to ignore the demon child, as she now referred to him in her head, for the rest of the year. Next chance she got she was requesting a transfer from the Teacher's Guild; she _hated_ teaching in rural areas. For his part, Vanitas had also resolved to ignore her. 'First thing I'm going to do once we get home,' he swore to himself, 'Is to ask Mr. Sato, Emiko, or Yuki if the Shimomuras have a library. The only way Sora and I are going to learn _anything_ this year is if I teach myself and then tutor him…' To be fair, both the teacher and her student were not so good at the ignoring part of their resolutions. She still called on him to answer questions in class; privately, she was hoping he'd get one of them wrong. The bitter teacher was out of luck. The ebony-haired boy answered all of her questions perfectly _and_ elaborated on the material. Sora sighed as he realized his brother was more than willing to use his own intelligence as a weapon in his quest to show up Ms. Kaitou. 'You really need to stop alienating people, Vani,' the brunette agonized internally, 'If it ever comes out that you can use the Darkness… We need people to _like_ you!' Unfortunately, the younger boy was forced to admit his older sibling's now well-developed paranoid suspicion, violent temper, and sarcastic attitude did not make that easy. 'This would have been _so_ much easier before Akira tried to drown him,' the blue-eyed boy admitted to himself, 'He was a lot less confrontational before then… It's almost like he's _trying_ to drive people away…'

Finally, the school day ended late in the afternoon. Ms. Kaitou effectively shoved her students out the door before shutting and locking it. Vanitas was muttering to himself about his need to find a library as the quartet started to walk home. Kairi, whose house was on the same side of town, was walking with them and was intrigued by the older boy's quiet monologue. "Why do you need a library," she asked. The black haired boy blinked and looked up, "Oh, uh… I decided since we probably aren't going to be learning much in school this year that I would just teach myself everything I need to know. Only I need books in order to do that which is why I need a library." The red-head hummed to herself thoughtfully, "I can't really help with that. Neither of my parents are really big readers aside from paperwork and magazine subscriptions." "I was hoping my godparents had one," the boy replied as he glanced at his silver-haired friend. Riku shrugged, "Yeah, there's one upstairs off of my parents' bedroom. You'd have to ask for Dad's permission to get in, though. His study is right next to it and he doesn't like it when people go in there…or even near it really. He gets really tense when my mom throws parties in the ballroom, I know that." "But the ballroom only has one door and that's near our room," Sora pointed out. "Yeah, but my dad's study is on the other side of the far interior wall," the aqua-eyed boy clarified, "He's kind of paranoid." "Who cares," Vanitas had been grinning wildly ever since he heard that the library even existed, "I've got a chance to actually _learn_ something this year!" The other three kids looked at him strangely causing the older boy to become confused. "What," he asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?" "Most people our age," Kairi pointed out slowly, "Aren't usually so excited about learning." The golden-eyed boy shrugged, "I like learning new things. Always have." Sora tilted his head to the side as he considered this and had to admit his brother had always been the more enthusiastic student. Besides, considering the sheer amount of effort he put into learning to control his innate power over Darkness, and how much he tended to enjoy it, he certainly didn't shy from the unknown. Even Mikazuki had commented on how attentive he was during their early lessons in controlling the Darkness. When you got right down to it Vanitas had a _hunger_ to learn; it was like there was a void inside of him that he was desperate to fill, and he had chosen to fill it with knowledge.

"So I don't suppose you would consider tutoring the rest of us, would you," Kairi turned to her black-haired friend again after they were halfway across the village. Vanitas blinked and looked at the girl curiously, "What brought that on?" "Is that a no," she pressed. "Uh. No, it isn't," the boy replied, "I'd be happy to tutor you guys… I just want to know _why_." The red-head smirked at her older friend, "You said it yourself. We probably aren't going to learn much from Ms. Kaitou. She hates it out here, and is honestly the worst teacher we've ever had. Mr. Shiranui was much better, but he got really sick last year and had to go back east for treatment. Ms. Kaitou was the only one available to replace him, so she got sent out and has been muddling along ever since. So seeing as we aren't going to learn anything from her…maybe we can learn from you!" A small part of Vanitas felt a bit guilty now for antagonizing someone who hated being where she was – he knew the feeling intimately – but for the most part he was still infuriated by her refusal to even try. He'd spent most of his childhood up until fairly recently wishing he was anywhere other than home, but he still put full effort into the chores he'd been assigned _and_ his studies. "Being miserable," the dark-haired boy frowned, "is _not_ an excuse. Trust me. So when do you want our first study session to be? I'm kind of a year ahead already, so I can start any time." Riku blinked at his friend and spoke up in surprise, "You're a year ahead?! How?!" The ebony-haired boy looked away, so his brother responded quietly, "Mom always took our education very seriously. She wanted us to succeed, so we had lessons every day of the year. We still had time to play and do chores and things, but we still had to finish our schoolwork. Vanitas was always more into it, though, so he ended up way ahead. He was always asking questions, reading ahead, and asking even more questions. It was never enough. Mom loved it…that's why she asked him to tutor me when I started to fall behind… It's what we were doing the day Akira…" "Enough, Sora," the older boy snapped in a strained tone, "I think they get it."

The four children walked on in silence for a while as one struggled to get his grief back under control, one worried that he'd set his brother off again, and the other two realized just how badly their golden-eyed friend was still hurting. "How about next week," Kairi finally spoke up, "That'll give you enough time to get permission to use the library and catch yourself up to where you would be if you hadn't been in a coma. It'll also give me time to talk my parents into being okay with letting me come over regularly. They're still being stupid." Vanitas laughed shortly at his female friend's offhand insult and gave her a grateful smile, "Yeah, that's fine. We're almost to your house, so I should probably split off. See you tomorrow." "See you," she replied before she abruptly leaned in and surprised him with a hug, "And thanks for saying yes." "Uh, yeah," he replied as awkwardly returned the hug, "No problem." The red- head beamed at him before letting go and stepping back; she then turned and tugged on the arms of the other two boys. "C'mon," she exclaimed as she ran off, "First one to reach my front gate gets to spar with Van next time we have training!" 'Since when is sparring with me a reward,' the dark-haired boy wondered as Sora and Riku exchanged challenging looks and took off after their red-headed friend. He shook his head in bemusement before he decided it wasn't worth the headache to figure it out. The Darkness wielder then sighed and headed for his alternate route; the upside of the Shimomuras living in the south-west corner of the village was that all he really had to do to get back was find the village wall and follow it.

Vanitas waited outside the gate to the house for his best friend and brother to escape Mrs. Uchida's mothering. The woman _adored_ them about as much as she _hated_ him, so it tended to take them a while. He smirked as they drew near and he realized that Riku had gotten the worst of it this time. "So I see the mayor's wife was in rare form today," he quipped. Sora snickered, "You might say that. She kept going on about how tall and handsome he was getting. Then she started going on about his muscles… Then she felt his hair and started quizzing him about what hair care products he used." Golden eyes glinted in amusement as they focused on the frazzled silver-head, "Hair care products? Really?" Their best friend rolled his eyes, "I just have really healthy hair. It's not like I use anything fancier than a basic shampoo and I told her as much. Which made her flip out and go on about how 'amazing' my hair was and how I was 'so lucky to have such fabulous hair'. I pity Kairi for having to live with her." Vanitas chuckled at the way his friend mocked the enthusiastic woman and commented, "We are so lucky Kairi doesn't seem to be taking after either of her parents all that much." Sora grinned, "I asked her about that once, and she said that, according to Mr. Tanaka, she takes more after the mayor's mom. She was amazing! She wrestled a bear once!" The three boys paused as they imagined Kairi facing down a bear and wrestling it into submission. "I can see it," the ebony-haired boy stated. "Same," Riku concurred. "Me too," the brunette agreed as he rubbed at his arm, "She has one heck of an arm…" The two older boys laughed and turned to head in. "So…I just remembered," the silver-haired boy drawled, "We have lessons with my mom today. How are we going to handle that?" Vanitas froze as he flashed back to that morning, "Oh, fucking shit… So not what I needed after today." "Could you at least _try_ to cut back on the swearing," Sora groaned. "I make no promises," was the grim response, "You know how messed up my emotions are." The younger boy sighed, but accepted that his older brother was right. The brown-haired boy was fully aware that the older boy's emotional state was still pretty unstable, and as a side effect his temper had been affected. It had worsened drastically after his emotional breakdown as had his impulse control on his use of profanity. The whole situation was extremely frustrating for the Darkness wielder, and he was struggling to bring both his temper and the emotions that had destabilized it back under control. He was slowly making progress, but for the moment he was still pretty much a powder keg.

Mikazuki was sitting in the living room reading when the boys got back and she flinched. "Before you say anything," she spoke up as they stood just inside the door, "I want to apologize for how I chose to wake you up this morning. It was a mean prank, and I shouldn't have done it. Can you forgive me?" The three boys looked at each other before Sora sighed and stepped forward, "I can, but I'm not sure about those two. Particularly my brother. He holds grudges." The two older boys shrugged and looked unrepentant. Vanitas commented, "He's not wrong. Also, did not have the best day at school. The teacher is a disgrace to her profession. So I've been in a bad mood all day." The amber-eyed woman perked up hopefully, "What if we retreat to the ballroom, I close all the curtains, and you summon Unversed until you're calmed down." "You realize," the dark-haired boy stated drily, "That all those emotions return the second I re-absorb the things." Riku just blinked in confusion, "The heck is an Unversed?!" The older boy sighed, grabbed his friend by the arm, and headed for the stairs, "I'll show you. Let's go, Aunt Mika! We have a newbie to initiate." "He makes it sound like a conspiracy," Mikazuki muttered as she stood. "It kind of is," Sora pointed out, "I mean we are keeping the fact that my brother can create monsters out of Darkness and his own emotions from everyone else in the household…not to mention the entire village." The woman cringed and froze, 'Crap, he's got a point.' She then shook herself and continued on her way. She had a son to induct into the newly named, and now officially recognized by her and her godson, Conspiracy to Hide the Existence of the Unversed. 'I can call it C.H.E.U.,' she mused as she reached the top of the stairs, 'Heh. That sounds funny.' She giggled a bit causing both of the older boys to glance back at her with matching looks of bemusement. "Do you know why she's giggling," Riku whispered to his friend. "No, and I don't want to," Vanitas hissed back, "Your mother can be _really_ random. I decided it's better to just _not_ know." The silver-haired boy considered this before he decided, "Smart choice. Should have made it myself years ago."

Vanitas had filled half the room with Floods, and two new varieties of Unversed before he managed to calm down; one was skinny with long claws, and the other kind of looked like a chubby boxer. He decided to call them Scrappers and Bruisers respectively. Riku just stared at the multitude of strange looking creatures in shock before he turned to his friend who was leaning over to scratch a Flood's head. "So," he asked in a strained tone, "How long have you been able to create monsters from nothing?" "About three months," the older boy responded placidly, "And they don't come from nothing. They are what I feel. Emotions and Darkness combined to form a race of creatures under my control." "That was kind of lyrical," Mikazuki commented as she cuddled a Flood. "Thanks. By the way, that one wants to be put down badly enough that it is willing to bite you. I keep telling it no, but it's really getting upset," the Master of the Unversed stated in an even tone. The woman quickly set the Flood down which promptly squeaked happily and tackled another nearby Flood. Vanitas flinched at that, "Could you not rough-house? The feedback kind of stings." "You can feel what they do," the silver-haired boy stared in awe. "Uh, sort of," the dark-haired boy admitted, "We've worked out that I'm linked to them empathically and have a weak telepathic link as well that I can use to direct them. We worked the second one out after we realized the reason I was the only one who could 'hear' them was because they were 'speaking' directly to my mind. They can make noises, but their make-up doesn't allow for proper speech." Riku blinked, "Do I even want to know how long that took?" "A month," Mikazuki responded, "Vanitas was really bored after spending so long being confined to bed. Working with the Unversed helped him pass the time." "Not so helpful as entertainment once you've got most of the basics worked out," the older boy sighed before he perked up, "Of course, that also meant I could move on to seeing how many types of Unversed I can come up with, and what the maximum number I can create at any one time is. Still haven't hit on an exact number for the latter. I always run out of space first…" The aqua-eyed boy wanted to quiz his friend some more about what all he could do, but they did still have a lesson to learn. Vanitas directed his Unversed to stay on the far side of the room while they practiced their abilities; he was in no hurry to find out what it would feel like if one of the things was killed.

Mikazuki directed both boys to sit in the chairs she had set up earlier before she started to speak, "Today I will be teaching you a bit more about the force your abilities draw from: the Darkness itself. Darkness is parallel to Light and is, in fact, interdependent with its opposite. It is more volatile than its opposite number in that it feeds off of the primal emotions and impulses: fear, jealousy, passion, hatred, wrath, contentment, curiosity, desire, and despair. If not controlled it will cause one's Heart to be consumed by those emotions to the point that they are the only ones that can be expressed; ultimately, the Darkness will grow so strong that it consumes the afflicted Heart and leave only a Heartless behind. In this kingdom, the prevailing belief has long been that this means that the Darkness must be evil, but this is far from true. The Darkness has no will of its own and so cannot be evil. Some would counter that it may not be evil, but its nature is clearly hostile. Again this is not true. The Darkness is just as neutral towards life as Light is. The danger lies in Darkness within the Heart _that has gone out of control_. I understand that Light wielders have a similar problem that results in the birth of Lumens. As I am not one of them I cannot say for sure what exactly that problem is. However, I believe the key for managing both forces is _control_. That is why we train." Mikazuki took a deep breath before continuing with her lecture, "Furthermore, all Hearts have both Darkness and Light in them. In most people the amount of Darkness in their Hearts is too small to be dangerous. A rare few have balanced Hearts. An unhappy minority have more Darkness than Light and are often completely mad unless, of course, they were born with their Hearts in that condition. There are legends of individuals with Hearts of Pure Light, though I have never encountered such a person myself. The most obscure legend, to my knowledge, is that of the Heart of Pure Darkness, but I doubt it has any basis in fact." "Why," Vanitas interrupted, "What is the Heart of Pure Darkness supposed to be?" "Good question," she replied, "Supposedly the Heart of Pure Darkness is exactly that. It is a person born without any Light in their Heart; only Darkness. The reason I doubt the legend is real is that it goes on to state that this individual not only has perfect instinctive control of their powers, but turn up just as often a hero as they are a villain. Supposedly, the bearer of the Heart of Pure Darkness would act entirely like a normal person except in times of stress when the Darkness would manifest." The dark-haired boy frowned, "So they're pure Darkness…but not a Heartless?" "The legends seem to suggest it," Mikazuki admitted, "I suppose it _could_ be possible since this person would have been born as Pure Darkness from the start. Heartless may be creatures of pure Darkness, but they only form when a Heart is overtaken by Darkness. If it was only Darkness to begin with, though, then the Heart could not, technically, be overtaken. I can't see how else a person could exist under those circumstances."

"What about the Hearts of Pure Light," Riku asked. "Those legends are a bit more believable and a lot more common," Mikazuki replied, "Light is a much less volatile force than Darkness. While it has been known to go out of control, it is much less likely to do so. Therefore, a Heart of Pure Light is inherently more stable than a Heart of Pure Darkness would be. There have been several individuals in recorded history who have been believed to possess Hearts of Pure Light. My husband is descended from one of them, in fact. He was a Knight of Lux, I believe, though this was a good fifty generations ago. Hearts of Pure Light are supposed to be able to form deep connections with the Light in the Hearts of others. They can even restore Light to a Heart that has been consumed by Darkness. They are infinitely compassionate, though they are just as prone to anger as the next person. It tends to be righteous indignation more often than just plain rage, though. They possess a natural resistance to corrupt forms of Darkness in all forms." "Corrupt forms of Darkness," Vanitas wondered. "Yes. There are some individuals who, in the process of being consumed, develop Dark powers not unlike those we can use naturally. However, because they have usually embraced the process by that point, the Darkness they wield _is_ malevolent. Most succumb and become Heartless fairly quickly, but…," Mikazuki paused and sighed before continuing, "There are a rare few who are able gain enough control of their new powers that they can delay their Heart's consumption indefinitely. These individuals usually go on to cause a lot of damage before they can be brought down… It is because of these corrupt wielders that natural Darkness users are treated with either suspicion or outright hatred in Light aligned kingdoms. It's why we have to hide what we are from the villagers. They don't know how to recognize the difference between natural and corrupt wielders, though to be fair the primary way to distinguish the difference is beyond them." "What's that," Riku asked. Mikazuki tapped the side of her nose, "By smell. Corrupt Darkness reeks terribly. It smells like decay. Natural Darkness has a mild bitter scent. Personally, I've always thought it smelled a bit like parsley. Light tends to have a pleasantly sweet aroma that always reminds me of flowers. Enhanced senses are a benefit of being a Darkness wielder. You're a bit young yet for it to be noticeable, but give it time. You'll gradually start to notice you can identify people by smell as easily as sight. I've always found it to be quite handy." Vanitas remained silent as he dwelled on something that confused him; his own Darkness and how its behavior didn't match up to Aunt Mika's claims of what Darkness was. In the past, even when he started to lose control of his Darkness, it never harmed him _or_ his Heart. It would always direct its fury outwards. He'd felt it twitch towards Sora and his parents in the past when he was agitated, but it'd never tried to consume _him_. If anything it was fiercely protective of him _and_ his Heart. Why did his Darkness not act the way Mikazuki said it should? The closest thing she'd described was the Heart of Pure Darkness, but there was no way that could be him. It wasn't even supposed to be real…right?

"Now," Mikazuki grinned, "that you know a bit more about what Darkness really is, it's relationship to the Heart, and why we train. Let's get started with our practice session. Vanitas, I've never actually seen the full range of your abilities. Care to demonstrate for us?" Vanitas cringed but nodded in agreement. He proceeded to run through all the abilities he had mastered so far. He wreathed himself in a Dark Veil that blurred his form and muffled any sounds he made. He summoned a Dark Shield around Riku before summoning a Dark Spire right next to him so that it deflected off of the Shield. He summoned a thin haze of Darkness to dim the lights in the ballroom. He displayed his augmented speed and strength that he now had to concentrate more on suppressing than summoning, and admitted as much. He launched a few Dark Aura spheres at another Shield he summoned against the far wall. Finally, he attempted to form the armored gauntlets he'd manifested when fighting Akira, but he only managed to cover his hands. They wouldn't extend any farther. "That's pretty much all I've worked out how to do consciously," Vanitas sighed as he dismissed the armored gloves, "The Darkness used to lash out against Akira in uncontrolled bursts of energy when the beatings worsened after I turned five. Closest I've come to refining that are the Dark Spires and the Dark Aura spheres." "Considering how young you are," Mikazuki admitted, "and the fact that you've worked all of this out on your own your skill is impressive." "I _have_ been working at it for six years," the dark-haired boy pointed out, "Some years were more productive than others though. For the first three all I could do was summon a Dark Shield, mask my presence, dim lights, and make myself faster or stronger than normal. Also I heal really fast, but I can't demonstrate that. They were mostly defensive. The offensive ones only started to develop after Akira seriously started trying to kill me. For some reason, the Darkness seems to respond only when I need it to. Otherwise it just sits there." Riku pouted, "Mine doesn't do anything aside from make me faster, so far. I mean it isn't trying to leak out either, and like Vanitas' it mostly just sits there. It doesn't seem to want to respond though…" Mikazuki smiled at her son, "But you've also been ignoring it for most of your life. The ability to use Darkness is kind of like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger and more responsive it is. I'm pretty sure that one of the major reasons that Vanitas has advanced as fast as he has is that he was relying on his powers to stay alive. The Darkness in him responded to that need and most likely draws its strength from his resolve." "But I though Darkness only drew strength from primal emotions," the silver-haired boy was confused. The amber-eyed woman nodded, "Normally, but it can be trained to draw on other emotions as well."

The lesson continued with Mikazuki teaching both boys control exercises and coaching her son on how to safely draw out his innate powers. She also worked with Vanitas on a new technique; he wanted to work some more on the armor, but she argued that a full suit of armor was beyond his current physical limits. The fact that he'd only managed the gloves was a clear indicator of that. When he countered that he had summoned the full gauntlets the day Akira went nuts her response was simply that adrenaline was a hell of a drug. He finally relented and agreed to wait until he was older to attempt the armor again. Instead, she taught him the basics of how to infuse normal magic spells with Darkness. She didn't know magic herself, but Yuki did. Vanitas was reluctant to approach the pale, oddly-dressed maid for anything, but he _was_ interested in learning magic; particularly cure spells. Anything that made him hurt less was intensely desired by the dark-haired boy. He made up his mind to approach her for magic lessons that coming weekend. Mikazuki wrapped up the lesson by going over one of her favorite techniques: the Dark Portal. She talked about the Corridors of Darkness that could be accessed anywhere in the world and went everywhere. She talked about the dangerous leeching effect that not only drained energy, but augmented the Darkness in an unshielded traveler's Heart. She talked about how a Darkness wielders' means of resisting this effect was calling forth their own power and wrapping it around themselves like a cloak. She then finished her talk by going over the basic method of opening a portal to the Dark Corridors. She was vague enough that the boys had no chance of working it out on their own, but specific enough that they were intrigued. She ended the lesson by promising that she would show them how to open their own portals once they could form the shields she'd described. Vanitas, it turned out, was half-way there with the Dark Veil he summoned to mask his presence; all he needed to do was work out how to tie in its cloak-like nature with the warding properties of the Dark Shield. He resolved that he would work on that more later.

Touya didn't get home until after dinner and looked utterly exhausted. "I am going to murder that goat," he groaned as he collapsed on the couch. Vanitas, who had been reading his textbook, blinked, "Goat?" Mikazuki, who was also present, sighed and launched into a brief explanation of the repeat-offender goat as well as the regularity with which her husband was called out by its paranoid owners. "So this goat eats everything," the dark-haired boy deadpanned, "Why do they even allow it indoors if they know it does this?" The Watch Captain groaned again and buried his face in his hands, "It eats the rope if they try to tie it up outside, and the hops the fence if they try to keep it with the other goats. Today was the worst incident yet…" "Do we even want to know," the boy raised an eyebrow at his godfather's uncharacteristic melodrama. The silver-haired man sighed and launched into his explanation, "It ate the bank statements. And the unpaid bills. And the paid bills. And the curtains. Then it somehow managed to open the door…into the garage…where they kept their photo albums… It ate them all. Then it discovered that there was an outside…with even more stuff to eat…and headed out…with the door to the garage still open behind it. It wandered over…to the neighboring farm…and proceeded to devour their flower garden. I had two calls. One from the original family who was going on about how somebody had broken in and stolen all the stuff the goat ate _plus_ the goat itself. The other was from the neighboring farm …complaining about how there was a goat on their land that was eating _everything_ and they couldn't get close enough to catch the damn thing. I knew it was _the_ goat. It is _always_ the goat. So I answered the second call. I was right. It was the goat with the bottomless pit for a stomach… _and it was still eating_. So I had my men fan out to corral it. That goat…is a master escape artist. It took us five hours to corner it in the tool shed and pin it long enough to tie its legs together and sling it over Jiro's shoulder. Then we carted it back to its home and so help me I threatened to fine those people one-thousand munny if I was called out to deal with that damn creature ever again. I. Hate. That. Goat. SO MUCH!"

"So basically it's the goat from hell," Vanitas summed up. "Yes," Touya moaned, "I swear I am going to confiscate it and turn it into mutton the next time I'm called out to deal with it. I don't care _how_ much their daughter insists it is a 'sweet-heart' and carries on every time they consider ending it themselves. I have had enough!" "Well, it has been nine years now you've been dealing with its destructive eating habits," Mikazuki mused. "Nine years and it's taken you this long to get fed up," the black-haired boy marveled, "You have the patience of a saint." "Thanks, I appreciate your words of support," the silver-haired man groaned. "Deep breaths, dear," his wife advised, "Don't let your feelings get the better of you." "I think you taught me better than that," he replied drily, "No worries, Mika. My Heart is still my own." He did follow his wife's advice though, and breathed deeply until he was fully calmed down. Vanitas chewed his lip as he debated about whether now was a good time to request library access. He finally decided to go for it and took a deep breath. "Uncle Touya, may I ask you something," the golden-eyed boy stated politely. Touya gave the boy an odd look at his sudden courtesy, but responded, "Sure. What is it?" The boy went on to outline his concerns about school; namely that the teacher sucked at her job, she didn't want to be there to _do_ her job, that he doubted he or any of the other kids would learn anything from the woman, and his refusal to let that slide. "So considering all that," he summed up, "I need to use your library." "Wait," the silver-haired man blinked, "How does my library tie in to all of this?" "So I can teach myself all the stuff that she won't," Vanitas responded, "Also so that I have a place I can tutor Sora, Riku, and Kairi so that they aren't completely screwed for life. I'm a year ahead in my studies, so I can cover what they need to know. Even if the library thing doesn't work out, I can still make it up next year providing we get a better teacher." He paused thoughtfully, "Not that I think she'll last much longer. We spent most of the morning flinging insults back and forth and swearing at each other. The parents who aren't screaming for _my_ head are likely to be clamoring for hers soon enough." "You got into an insult match," Mikazuki blinked in disbelief, "with your teacher." "An insult match with a lot of curse words added in, but yes," the boy confirmed, "She kept pushing my buttons by failing as a teacher. Mom would have _hated_ her." "If she's really so bad that even Kyoko –maysherestinpeace– would have been offended then I can't say I blame you," Touya admitted, "Still…not looking forward to the angry phone calls. I'm surprised we didn't get any today…" "It's only the beginning of the week," his wife moaned in dismay, "Give it time…"

Vanitas had to field a few more questions from his godparents, but ultimately gained permission to use the library for both of his purposes. He spend the rest of the evening doing his homework, such as it was, and helping Sora with his. Riku had already finished while the older boy was waiting to get permission to use the library, but hung around to get an idea for how the study sessions would run. The silver-haired boy was impressed with his older friend's patience and knowledge of the material. He answered all of his brother's questions clearly and even gave examples to help the younger boy fix the knowledge in his memory. It was an effective method which prompted the aqua-eyed boy to ask his own questions about things in the material that had confused him. It turned out his problem was entirely with the presentation because Vanitas' explanation ended up making perfect sense. "You really do know this stuff," the Riku marveled. "Mom was really good at making things stick," the older boy admitted sadly, "I miss her…" The dark-haired boy trailed off as a sorrowful look flashed across his face and Sora winced at the intensity of the grief that flashed across their link. "Homework? Focus? Please," the brunette pleaded. His brother blinked and flushed, "Right, sorry about that. So what's the next question that's giving you trouble?" The three boys continued working on the youngest boy's homework until an hour before it was time to get ready for bed. The two younger boys occupied themselves with a card game the older of them had received as a Christmas present last year. Vanitas occupied himself by trying to form the shield Mikazuki had described in that day's lesson. By the time bed time arrived he was pretty sure he knew what he was doing _wrong_ , but was still not much closer to doing it _right_. Riku headed downstairs to complete his nighttime preparations while the two brothers headed for the bathroom next door to take care of their own. They lay in bed for a few minutes conversing lightly about the day before Sora finally dropped off. The golden-eyed boy lay awake for a little longer as he contemplated the day; it wasn't the best he'd ever had, but it was also nowhere near his bottom ten. "I guess it was average," he murmured quietly, "Not bad. Not good. Just 'meh'." He smirked as he considered the fun he would have making his teacher's life miserable the rest of the year. 'We'll see who breaks first, _ma'am_ ,' he grinned evilly, 'There is nothing you can do to me that is worse than what I have already been through. You are going _down_.' He fell asleep with thoughts of malicious mischief dancing through his head and a dark smile on his face.

 **A/N:** O_O Fifteen…pages… So far this is my longest chapter yet. Compared to earlier chapters, particularly the last three, it has a lot less action and drama. There is still a _little_ drama…but still less. Also it is the return…of the demon goat. I know real goats can't eat as much as this one did without making themselves terribly sick; possibly even fatally. However…this is taking place in a universe with anthropomorphic animals that can speak, magic, giant key-shaped weapons, monsters born from the darkness in people's Hearts and from the bodies the aforementioned monsters leave behind, and other such random crap. If I want there to be a goat that can eat anything and everything with no ill effects and Houdini level escape artist skills then I am _going_ to have that goat! Besides…I kind of find it hilarious that the worst enemy the Captain of the Watch has is an obnoxious goat. I snicker every time I write those segments. I love the goat…but Touya does not…so I have to retire the goat before he kills it. This saddens me…but I can always replace it with something worse! Maybe a larcenous flock of crows that descend upon the town… I smell a side-story! Or not. I have five books, well maybe four and a half, to get through still…that is a lot of writing… I think I am maybe half-way through this one? Maybe a little less? Not sure. When I was working this out in my head after the dream that inspired this whole thing it wasn't exactly in chapter format. Just one long stream of images with voice over and narration…also a soundtrack consisting of random Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts songs that I thought were appropriate…. I still need to make that playlist… I need to not think. I keep giving myself more work when I do… Bleah… And I'm in college…thank god the idea for this came after autumn finals…but that means I have spring finals still looming ahead… Please let me finish the first two books before then! Or keep motivated long enough to turn out a book per month! Finals aren't till May…it's still December… I should be able to do it… And I'm rambling again. Sorry. I don't think I'm entirely sane. Also, I just thought of another reason for my story to be rated 'M'. My choice of vocabulary; not so much the profanity (my personal vocabulary is quite limited) as it is the fact I sometimes use words that are not in common usage. A first grader would not know what 'bemusement' was (synonyms are confusion, bewilderment, and befuddlement as I recall off the top of my head. Yes, I have this memorized) and would need to read with a dictionary in their lap just to work out what the heck I'm talking about. If I had to pick a major flaw of my writing it is that I have an insanely large vocabulary and cannot always resist temptation to use it. This is what I get for trying to memorize the dictionary when I was twelve (I didn't get very far, but I did try it. I blame the Wayside School series of books for giving me the idea. I regret the attempt because I will _never_ be able to use all of those words.) Next chapter I introduce the next two of our band of protagonists! Guess who they are! C'mon! Guess! I'll give you a hint: one is badass, tragic, and adorable and the other is kind-of-dorky-but-bloody-brave, tragic, and adorable. They have way more similarities beyond being both tragic and adorable, but I can't list them without giving their identities away. The next chapter will be in mostly their POV though. Well, one of them more than the other because I like him more. Wow…I think this author's note beat out my first one in terms of length… Oops. I am deeply sorry for breaking my promise that the first note would be the longest. I should stop typing now. I'll stop typing now. See you next time!


	11. New Arrivals

**A/N:** Seriously? Only one person tried to guess? The guess was right, but still… T_T Only one guess? I was hoping to engage with you guys a little more than that. Eh, whatever. It's fine. One is better than nothing, so congratulations to the one who guessed rightly! You know who you are. This chapter is the introduction for Ventus and Roxas. I'm making them twins in this. I know it's not particularly original, but how can I resist! They're already identical physically thanks to Square's refusal to create a new character model when they can still get more mileage out of an old one! Twins works better than making them identical cousins (or not related at all) when sticking them both in the same story at the same age. Roxas is older because his in-game appearance came first…also I like him more. Also, because last chapter's author's note ran way too long for me to cover this, I am not going to be describing Vanitas' outfits _every_ chapter. If you want to get an idea as to what his fashion sense is like…it's sort of a combination of Squall from FF8/Leon in KH (replace Squall/Leon's distinctive symbols w/ Unversed symbol), Yugi Moto/ Yami Yugi during/ after Battle City, and Seto Kaiba (replace trench-coats with denim/ leather jackets or partially undone buttoned shirts). I don't know many sub-culture fashion trend names, so I have _no_ idea what that style would be called (maybe it's punk-ish goth? I dunno. Yuki is a Loli-goth, though.) Heck, I don't know much about fashion period. I do know what I think looks cool, though. So he generally dresses like a combination of the people listed above. Color scheme for his outfits matches his armor, so it's all reds, black, and dark blues. Reason I'm not describing what he wears and leaving up to your imaginations? It's honestly kind of boring for me to write out, and I don't much like reading it either. So I'm just going to give you my reference templates and let you all go nuts. Have fun.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I'm not going to add extra things any more after this. I'm just going to copy/paste the proper owners of the franchise each time, and that'll be it. Seriously, though. I don't own Kingdom Hearts. The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 10: New Arrivals

"Roxas? Roxas. Roxas! Roxas! ROXAS!" The blue-eyed blonde boy yelped and shot up as his twin screamed his name into his ear. "Finally," the slightly younger boy huffed as his older twin rubbed at his ear and glared, "Mom wanted me to wake you up. We're almost to Unmei!" Roxas scowled at his twin, "And that means you need to yell in my ear? Gee, thanks Ven. Remind me to return the favor sometime." Ventus grinned at his annoyed twin, "Aw, you're just cranky from being woken up. Besides I tried poking you, shaking you, ticking your nose with a feather, and everything else. You were really out." The annoyed blonde rolled his eyes, "Give me a break. It was a long trip, and it's kind of hard to sleep when you're not used to camping out." The younger twin blinked at his brother, "…But I slept fine." "You fell asleep while standing up once," the older boy remarked drily, "While waiting in line at the amusement park. That was with all the noise and flashing lights. I'm pretty sure you are capable of sleeping _anywhere_." Ven pouted and stuck out his tongue at his sibling before brightening and scampering to the front of the rental wagon, "Hey! Is that the ocean? Wow…" Roxas shook his head at his easily excitable twin, but followed his younger sibling to see what he was so excited about. His jaw dropped slightly at the vista that spread out before him; the gravel road they'd been traveling down ran along the top of a cliff with a towering forest looming five-hundred feet from the road's edge. At the base of the cliff was the ocean; it was a clear day, so the sunlight sparkled off of the gently rolling waves. Seabirds dove and wheeled over the brink with a few flying up and over the road itself. A gentle breeze was blowing inland causing the grass on the side of the road to undulate gently and he could hear the crash of the waves mingling with the gentle rustling of the nearby forest and the seabirds' cries. "Whoa…," he breathed in awe. 'Maybe moving out here won't be so bad after all,' he considered as he took in the view, 'I've never seen water so blue…'Xenosa Harris grinned at her husband as she watched her son's faces. "And you were worried they'd be miserable," she teased, "Look at them! They're so happy!" "I can't look," Marcus Harris muttered to his wife, "I have to watch the road. Besides Ventus was never a concern. I was more worried about Roxas. You remember how he reacted when I was tapped for this teaching job." Mrs. Harris cringed slightly as she remembered the dramatic outburst her older son had experienced two months back…

"We're moving where," Roxas shrieked, "But that's all the way out in the middle of nowhere! Who in their right minds would live out there!?" Marcus sighed as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose in response to his son's drama fit. "It's a small fishing and farming community on the coastline of the westernmost peninsula of the Dawn District. There's a small market town called Aozora about three day's wagon travel away along one of the minor trade routes in the region that they export surplus to, so it isn't as though it's _completely_ isolated," the exasperated man pointed out. The distraught boy groaned and slumped against the wall. "But what about my friends," the blonde moaned pathetically, "This was going to be the summer when we were finally gonna ride the Nightmare Behemoth at the beach… Olette finally got tall enough last month… It was gonna be awesome…. We've wanted to ride that roller coaster for the last three years…" "I'm sorry, but I can't control where the Guild chooses to send me _or_ when they need me to go," the teacher explained, "Besides, I'm the only member of the Guild who is currently between commissions, and we could use the extra income. Your mother's waitressing job only pays so much. We need the money, and Unmei needs a new teacher. This is not as terrible as you're making it out to be." Roxas cringed as he realized his father had a point. Their family was barely able to afford their apartment as it was, and had to rely on the food bank for groceries just so that they could have enough extra to save for other expenses. "How long," he asked resignedly, "do I have left with my friends?" Marcus sighed, "Well, we can't drive all the way there. The only towns in the Dawn District with a public fuel depot are the regional capital, Yoake, and a few of the larger towns nearby, so we're going to have to sell our car, grab a rental, drive to the westernmost of those towns, transfer the car for a wagon at the rental depot, and travel the final leg that way. That means we have to be packed and ready to leave by the end of the week if we want to make it to Unmei before summer break is over." The golden-haired boy's eyes widened in horror, "A week?! But that's not enough time!" "I'm sorry, Roxas," his father shrugged, "But we really have no choice." The boy moaned pathetically before he simply flopped to the ground and curled into a miserable ball, "Just…go away…"Marcus shook his head at his son's behavior, but respected his request and left to track down his other son. Ventus was much more likely to be excited about getting to meet new people and make new friends than angst over the ones he would be leaving behind.

Xenosa shook her head as she snapped out of her memories and focused on her younger son's excited chatter. "D'you think there are any kids our age in Unmei," he wondered, "D'you think they have a beach? I wonder if they hang out there. D'you think we'll meet any of them before school starts? It'd be nice to have friends in class. I wonder what they do for fun? What do you think Roxas?" The older twin stared at his sibling in disbelief before he slowly responded, "In order… Probably. Yes, though I doubt it's a big hang-out spot like it was back home. I'd be surprised if we didn't. I have no idea. I think you need to talk slower…or less. Either works." Ventus pouted at his older brother for a few seconds before grinning again. "Aw, you know you love me," he chirped. Roxas rolled his eyes before grinning back, "Well, yeah. Even though you do tend to talk too much." The other blonde boy narrowed his eyes, "Me talk too much? More like you don't talk enough! You are _way_ too quiet, Rox!" The older twin shrugged and walked back into the wagon, "I like to keep to myself. Not everyone is as outgoing as you, Ven." The younger sibling frowned thoughtfully, "You need more hugs." "I really don't," was the dry response as the other boy settled himself on a box. Unfortunately for the older boy his twin was not willing to let his more reserved sibling off that easily and launched himself at his startled brother in a surprise tackle-hug. The older blonde's breath exploded out of him in a grunt as he fell to the wagon floor with his twin on top of him; the younger boy was still clinging tightly with a happy grin on his face as they landed. "Ventus," the older sibling growled as he got his breath back, "This means war." Xenosa shook her head as she heard her sons start to wrestle vigorously in the back of the wagon. "Well," she gave her husband a wry look, "That degenerated quickly." "They're boys," was his bland response, "Boys get into fights. More so if they're siblings, particularly when they're as different as those two." The platinum blonde woman had to concede her husband's point. The two boys may have been identical, but their personalities were pretty much opposites; Roxas was a fairly serious and reserved child while his twin was laid-back and outgoing. It didn't usually come to blows, but sometimes they'd just inadvertently end up pushing the wrong buttons. Fortunately, they got along just fine most of the time. Their little scuffles didn't usually last very long anyways, and they seldom suffered worse than a few bruises and light friction burns. The current scrap was shorter than most; Ventus ended up slamming his head into a box, and knocked himself silly. This, of course, made his brother worry and brought the fight to an abrupt end. "You sure you're okay," the older twin asked once the younger boy was coherent. "M'fine," the younger blonde laughed, "I've just got a bit of a headache now. You are such a worry-wart, Rox." "I'm your older brother," the older boy smirked, "It's my job to worry." "You're only older by five minutes," his twin snorted. "Still counts," the other blonde replied.

Roxas raised an eyebrow as the walls of Unmei resolved themselves, "That's…all the defense they've got? With the nearest guard post being a week away? That's…comforting…" Marcus's response was unconcerned, "This is a fairly quiet region. Heartless attacks are almost entirely unheard of out here because it is so sparsely settled. The worst they have to worry about are roaming bands of bandits, and the people out here are generally capable of fending off such assaults on their own. I understand that in Unmei the village Watch also serves as an amateur militia, so it's really quite safe." The older twin was far from convinced, but there wasn't much he could do about it. They arrived at the town gates about an hour later where the family of four was greeted by the mayor and a tired looking man who bore a gleaming badge on his right breast pocket. "Welcome to Unmei," the mayor beamed with an expansive welcoming gesture, "I am Kojiro Uchida, the mayor of this humble village, and this is the Captain of the Watch, Touya Shimomura." Marcus dismounted from the wagon and stretched before bowing politely, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Marcus Harris of the Teachers Guild. This is my family. The lovely lady is my wife Xenosa and the boys are my twin sons, Roxas and Ventus." Touya grinned, "So you're the new teacher? That's a relief. I thought I was never going to get my library back." Mr. Harris blinked at the non-sequitur as the mayor frowned at the silver-haired man standing beside him. "That was hardly professional, Captain," he chided. The Watch Captain was unrepentant, "You woke me up at four in the morning on my day off. And had me stand at the gates with you all morning and through lunch. On my day off. As far as I'm concerned, I am off the clock and am free to be as irreverent as I want. I'm not even in uniform. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go home and make sure my godson isn't enjoying his magic lessons too much." Xenosa looked confused, "Magic lessons?" "One of my maids is apparently a student of the arcane, "the blue-eyed man replied, "It was my wife's idea. I wouldn't mind so much except he's started trying to combine the spells he's learning with his sword-play. I'm running out of practice blades. Also he encased my wife's side of the bed in ice yesterday. Pretty sure it was his idea of revenge for her waking him up with a bull-horn last year. I have an…interesting home-life these days." The twins had perked up at the mention of sword-play, started grinning at the mention of practice blades, and Ventus had flat out laughed at the iced-bed-as-revenge trick. "I have got to meet this guy," Ven whispered to his brother, "He sounds awesome!" Roxas nodded in agreement, but was more interested in hearing more about the practice swords; he'd always wanted to learn how to fight. He and his friend Hayner used to mock sword-fight with sticks and, while that was fun, it just wasn't satisfying. 'If I can learn how to fight,' the older blonde vowed internally, 'I will take back every complaint I ever had for this move. I swear by the Light _and_ Darkness!'

Unfortunately for the older twin, the Watch Captain left after finishing his brief explanation; he nodded politely to both Mr. Harris and the mayor before he departed while muttering under his breath about needing more sleep before he could handle 'dealing with overly creative nine-year olds'. Mayor Uchida coughed awkwardly, "Yes…well… You will be pleased to hear that we built an addition onto the old teacher's residence to accommodate your family. I'm afraid the original structure was little more than a four-room cabin. Most of our past teachers have been unmarried or didn't have children living with them, so it was sufficient for their needs. It still isn't much, I am afraid. We simply don't have the funds for a major renovation. All we really managed to do was raise the roof enough to make a livable space in the old attic, put in an actual floor up there, and split the space into two small bedrooms with a narrow hall in between." Marcus fixed the mayor with a grateful expression, "Trust me. Even that much is an improvement. In our old apartment we all had to share a bedroom, and the utilities for that building pretty much only worked when they felt like it. Still, it was what we could afford… Better than being homeless." The mayor looked relieved, "Then your new home should be more than satisfactory! Unfortunately, I have a meeting to attend in an hour or so, so I won't be able to help you move in. I'll be sure to send my wife and daughter over later so see how you've settled in, though. Perhaps your boys will find my little girl to be a suitable playmate." Xenosa smiled happily, "That sounds wonderful! And Roxas was worried about not having any new friends!" "Mom," the older blonde protested, "I wasn't worried!" Ventus snickered at his twin's flustered expression as they mayor beamed happily. "I'll show you to your house then. It's not far. Please follow me." Marcus grabbed the two lead rental horses' reins and tugged them lightly to get the animals moving as he followed the auburn-haired mayor down the street and past the local inn that also served as a tavern and town meeting hall. The house was right next door to the larger structure and proved to be a compact, rectangular house with a peaked roof. It looked cozy, but comfortable enough. The mayor handed over the keys to the door before bowing politely and heading back towards the inn.

The Harris' didn't have much in the way of belongings and were soon fully unpacked. Xenosa was relieved to discover that the kitchen came with a stove and refrigerator; she'd been worried about how they were going to cook and store food. Marcus was just happy that all the utilities worked flawlessly. The house may have been small, but it was in good repair. Roxas and Ventus both were relieved to have their own rooms and set about placing their own personal touches in place. The younger twin, who collected old movie posters, started slapping his laminated treasures all over the walls. His brother liked to carve wooden figurines and carefully unwrapped his creations before placing them around the room; most of them were crudely carved warriors. They all met up in the living room about four hours after they'd arrived and started unpacking. "So," Mr. Harris offered, "What do you all think of our new place?" His wife sighed happily, "We have so much more _space_. And it comes with kitchen appliances…that work! I feel as though we've moved up in the world!" Ven bounced happily, "I have my own room! And I got to put my posters up!" "I'm just glad I don't have to sleep with Ven flopping all over me at night," the older blonde sighed. His younger sibling protested indignantly, "I _don't_ flop all over!" "Ven," Roxas deadpanned, "I've woken up in the middle of the night with your hand in my face…or your head on my stomach…or your foot trying to go up my nose. All I can say is I am glad your feet don't reek." Ventus stuck his tongue out at his twin impishly before placing his hands behind his head nonchalantly. "So when did that mayor guy say his family was coming over," he asked curiously. "He never actually said," Marcus admitted, "We'll just have to wait and see I suppose. I'd like to head over and check out the school-house, so I hope it's soon." "I'd like to know what the shopping options are," his wife confessed, "I need to know where to go to buy food and clothing." The older blonde just had a distant look on his face as he sighed wistfully, 'I'd like to know where the Watch Captain lives… From what he said earlier…maybe he offers fighting lessons… I'd like to learn how to fight…'

His musing was interrupted by a polite knock on the door and a chipper woman's voice calling, "Knock, knock!" Xenosa walked over to the door and opened it with a polite smile on her face, "I assume you're Mrs. Uchida?" "That's right dear," the red-headed woman beamed, "My name is Kasumi and this little sweetie," she patted the slightly annoyed looking girl next to her on the head, "is my lovely daughter Kairi!" The dark red-haired girl wiped the annoyed look off of her face, put on a polite smile, and bowed, "Nice to meet you, ma'am." The light-haired woman laughed lightly, "Just call me Xen, dear. My full name is a bit exotic for some people's tastes." "Oh, and what might that be," the mayor's wife asked politely. "Xenosa Anastasia Harris," the other woman replied promptly, "My family's from Ionia, and my grandparents opted to keep our naming traditions the same when they immigrated." Mrs. Uchida blinked in shock at the long name while Kairi visibly brightened. "Ionia's a Balanced kingdom, right," she asked eagerly, "Do you still have family there? Have you ever been back to visit?" "In order," Xen, as she'd asked to be called, laughed lightly, "Yes. I think so. And no I have not, though not for lack of wanting. We simply haven't been able to afford it. I remember my grandmother's stories though. I might share them with you sometime." A vague expression of discomfort flickered across Kasumi's face at that offer before she smiled brightly, "I believe my husband said you had two young boys around my daughter's age. I'd like to meet them." Mrs. Harris nodded and gestured for the twins to come forward. Ventus was the first to arrive and smiled amiably at the red-haired girl, "Hi, I'm Ventus. Call me Ven though. All my friends do!" Roxas' approach was more sedate and he simply nodded politely with a faint grin, "Hi. I'm Roxas. Nice to meet you." Kairi smiled back at both boys, "Hi, Ven! Hi, Roxas! I'm Kairi. Nice to meet you too!" Marcus walked up and looked hopefully at the mayor's wife, "I don't suppose I could impose on you to show me where I'll be teaching. Also, if you could like to tell me where the keys are so I could get a look at the materials I'll have to work with…that would be great. I'll need them to draw up my lesson plans." Mrs. Uchida nodded, "Of course! I happen to have the keys on my right now. My husband asked me to turn them over. Poor man is so over-worked that he forgot to do it himself earlier. I can also give you both a tour of the town!" "But," Xenosa asked uncertainly, "What about the kids? Is it really alright to leave them alone?" "Kairi can bring the boys over to our place," the chipper woman replied, "The servants can keep an eye on them." "Actually," the red-haired girl spoke up, "I was thinking of bringing them with me to meet the others. I promised Sora I'd let him know when the new teacher got here, so he could get Van to stop plotting. He's convinced that we'll get another Ms. Kaitou…and has been making…plans... Once we tell him that we actually have a decent teacher we're hoping he'll cool off. He takes learning _way_ too seriously…" "How can you take learning too seriously," Ventus wondered. The response was disturbingly casual, "When your response to our previous teacher's failure to actually teach was to initially spend the entire morning of his first day arguing – and ultimately descending into a profanity laden insult slinging match – with the teacher, spend the entire afternoon of the first day giving overly detailed and infuriatingly accurate answers to every question she asks thus making her look like an idiot, and spend the rest of the year making her life a living hell. She tried to strangle him on her last day. He kicked her in the face and gave her a minor concussion when she hit the wall. It was an interesting year."

"Suddenly I fear for my life," Marcus muttered. "You have nothing to worry about so long as you actually make an effort to teach us something," Kairi offered reassuringly, "Vanitas is nowhere near as bad as people would have you believe. He just has a temper…and a tendency to hold grudges…and is really good at looking scary when he wants to…" She trailed off as she realized her words weren't really helping the adults feel any better. The twins, however, were intrigued. "We have _got_ to meet this guy," they chorused. "If it makes you feel any better, Van also helped my friends and I out a lot by tutoring us to make up for the fact that we weren't really learning anything in school. It helped that he was a year ahead last year, and _still_ tried to make up the difference in his own education by studying every book he could get his hands on in the Shimomuras' library," the red-head offered, "He really is nice once you get to know him. It just the 'getting to know him' part has been kind of difficult ever since…um… Yeah I probably shouldn't talk about that without his permission. Kingdom Hearts knows he's annoyed enough by all the crazy rumors flying around already. Don't listen to _anything_ anyone tells you about him in town," she pointed at both Mr. and Mrs. Harris with a stern look on her face, "okay? They keep judging him without knowing him and it's really not fair! If you want to know what happened just ask him, Sora, or one of the Shimomuras. _They_ actually _know_ what happened." She glowered at her mother accusingly as she finished. "Now Kairi," her mother tittered with a strained smile, "don't be unreasonable…" " _I'm_ unreasonable," Kairi shrieked as her temper snapped, "I'm one of the only people willing to give him a _chance_ and you say I'm being _unreasonable_?! _Vanitas is one of my best friends and nothing you do or say is going to change that!_ _Just because you and most of the rest of the villagers hate him for NO REASON DOESN'T MEAN I HAVE TO!_ " "Kairi," her mother pleaded as the Harris' all gave the woman disapproving looks, "You're making a scene. We'll talk about this _later,_ I promise. Okay, sweetie?" The red-haired girl glared sharply before she huffed, turned to the twins and smiled sweetly, "I'm going to meet my other friends. Want to come?" She then turned and walked away before waiting for a response with her fists clenched tightly by her sides. The twins looked at each other, nodded in agreement, waved goodbye to their parents, and followed after the girl.

"Hey, Kairi! Wait up," Ven called as he and his twin hurried after the girl, "That was…quite the explosion back there. You okay?" Kairi sighed and turned back to the boys with a weak smile on her face, "Yeah, I'm fine. My parents just make me so mad sometimes…" Roxas walked with his hands in his pockets as he spoke lightly, "Sounded like it. Your friend sounds interesting, though." The red-head nodded eagerly, "He really is. He's kind of a mystery though. I get the feeling he's hiding something from me sometimes and that my other two friends are in on it. I'm sure he'll tell me when he's ready though. He's been through a lot… He's really not good with new people, so he'll probably be a bit distant at first. It took him about a year to warm up to me…but then my parents are also his biggest critics so I can't blame him. It might take him less time with you guys since you're new… Then again…he has trust issues." Ventus grinned, "He sounds like he'd get along with my brother, then. The guy hardly ever talks. They can be distant together!" The older twin pulled a hand out of his pocket to bop his brother in the head, "Oh, shut up." Kairi giggled at their interaction and pointed as they approached a duplex, "See the roof of the big house behind this one? That's where I live. The Shimomuras' is two houses further south and is near the southwest corner of the village walls." The twins stared at the fancy roof they could just make out and stared at the girl they were walking with. "Your mother mentioned servants earlier…if you live in a house that big…," Roxas mused, "You're pretty rich aren't you?" "I guess," the red-haired girl shrugged, "Doesn't really matter much around here, though. It's not like my parents have anyone to show it off to aside from the Shimomuras and the Takamoris. All it really means is that we have bigger houses than most people in town, and all live in the same section of the village." "And can afford servants," the older blonde pointed out. "I spend most of my time at the Shimomuras," the girl deadpanned, "and they treat the people who work for them more like family than employees. Wealth doesn't mean much to me…my _parents_ on the other hand…" She trailed off with an annoyed look on her face. The three children walked the rest of the way in relative silence with Kairi only breaking it to point out useful landmarks for getting around the village. It was pretty small, so getting lost wasn't really an issue; it was still useful for marking how close you were to where you were going, though.

Roxas tilted his head to the side critically as he took in the Shimomura residence. It was certainly a nice looking house; it was peach colored, had two floors and a red tiled roof. The yard was fairly large and well maintained with beautifully arranged flower beds along the front and left side of the house; it was surrounded by a wrought iron fence. He certainly wouldn't mind living there. Kairi walked right up to the front door and knocked firmly. The door was promptly opened by a frazzled looking blonde man whose face adopted an expression of utter relief when he saw the girl. "Oh, thank Kingdom Hearts it's you," he breathed in relief, "Your friend is insane. He would not stop bothering me all morning about when you were going to get here. Please come in… I'm…going to go lie down… I need another Sora-wrangling bonus…" The red-head smiled sympathetically, "I'll talk to Riku about it Mr. Sato. Get some rest. You look like you need it." "You have _no_ idea," the man muttered as he staggered back, "The boys are with Master Touya in the courtyard trying to distract Vanitas. Oh, my head…" The exhausted blonde walked unsteadily away as the three children walked indoors and shut the door behind them. "Who was that," Ventus asked as Kairi led them through the house. "That was Mr. Sato the butler. I guess he got stuck watching Sora while Mr. Shimomura was out this morning. Mrs. Shimomura is usually busy helping the maids clean in the mornings, so she usually can't." Roxas was not particularly excited to meet this Sora kid. Ven, however, was curious and questioned the girl further, "What's Sora like?" "Well…," Kairi tapped her finger to her chin in mock thought, "He's very outgoing and cheerful. He has a lot of energy. Sometimes he can be very easily distracted and occasionally forgets important things when his mind is set on something. Van calls them his 'random idiot moments'. I've tried to get him not to call it that, but he insists that as Sora's older brother he has the right to give him a hard time whenever he wants. Anyways, Sora is really nice to everybody even if they aren't nice to him. Well, usually. He isn't nice to people who try to hurt his older brother. They're really close. Um, he's also really direct. He used to have a bit of a lying problem, so he's trying to get over it by being really honest _all the time_. He's also one of my best friends." They arrived at the door to the courtyard and Kairi paused to glance at the twins. "Don't be too surprised if Riku and Van are going all out. They may be best friends, but they are both insanely competitive. They can get pretty vicious. Fair warning." She then opened the door and stepped out into the courtyard.

The twins blinked as they saw two blurs moving all over the courtyard and grunting occasionally. A brunette boy with a wooden sword stood nearby with a slightly bored look on his face watching the blurs next to the Watch Captain who'd greeted their family earlier. He looked a lot calmer, and more rested, than he had earlier and was smiling faintly as he observed the blurs. Kairi sighed as she placed her hands on her hips, "Typical. Hang on I'll get their attention." She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled at the top of her lungs, "HEY VAN! TORI THINKS YOU"RE REALLY CUTE AND WANTS TO KISS YOU!" One of the blurs froze and resolved into a tall, nine-year old, black-haired boy with a look of sheer horror on his face. "Oh FUCK no," he moaned. The other blur froze soon after and resolved into an equally tall nine-year old boy with silver hair who looked utterly amused. "We always knew this day would come," he smirked, "it's that whole rebellious attitude of yours. I told you girls liked it." The first boy scowled at the other, "Riku. Shut up. I'm not changing. It's just…Tori is _way_ too hyper. I swear her parents raise her on a diet of pure sugar and caffeine…" He shuddered and continued, "It'd be like kissing my brother. Ew…" "Hey," the brunette shouted indignantly, "I'm not that bad." "I'm pretty sure Hiroshi's going to need another bonus," the dark-haired boy deadpanned, "Yes. You are." "Guys, I made it up," Kairi laughed as she placed her hands on her hips, "I just wanted to get you to take a break and meet the new kids." Roxas' eyes widened as the black-haired boy looked directly at them and he realized that the kid's eyes were a brilliant golden-yellow. 'I suddenly see what Kairi meant when she said he could look scary,' he thought in amazement, 'Kind of cool, though.' "Dude," Ventus breathed, "He looks badass _…_ " The older boy was a pretty impressive looking figure; he had wild spikey black hair, pale skin, gold eyes, was tall, surprisingly muscular for his age, and currently clad in a padded suit of training armor. The look of mild annoyance on his face only added to the intimidation factor. His eyes swept over them calculatingly before he glanced over at Kairi and stated flatly, "Not interested." He then walked off to the side and started pulling the armor off casually. "Oh, come on Vanitas," the brunette wheedled, "You need to stop pushing people away. You've got half our class terrified of you, a quarter hating your guts, and the remaining quarter trying to work out where they stand. We need people to _like_ you, remember?" "They won't," Vanitas responded flatly. Roxas folded his arms and commented, "We're right here. We just arrived today. Current opinions formed so far: Kairi is terrifying when angry. Her parents are as fake as it gets. My twin still talks too much." "I _do NOT_ ," Ven scowled. "Uh…you _did_ do most of the talking on the way over," Kairi pointed out. "So I'm friendly," the younger blonde threw his arms up, "That doesn't mean I talk too much." "Yes. You do," his twin smirked, "You really do." The ebony-haired boy blinked at the exchange and smirked faintly. "Points to the quiet one," he muttered.

Vanitas watched curiously as the twins introduced themselves to his brother and best friend. He honestly wasn't sure what to make of them. The one called Roxas seemed tolerable enough; the fact that he didn't like the adult Uchidas was definitely a plus in his book. The other one, though… Something about that kid just ticked him off. It wasn't anything specific that he could pinpoint like his personality or his general talkativeness; his younger sibling was pretty similar in that regard. The fact was that the Darkness wielder just _did_ _not_ like Ventus, and the fact that he couldn't pinpoint exactly why he didn't like the kid was ticking him off even more. "So why'd you move to Unmei," Riku asked curiously, "It's not like there's much out here." "Our dad's the new teacher," Ven chirped with a casual grin, "Since his last job was clear over in the Twilight District we kind of had to come with. Roxas was not happy." "Not all of us make friends easily," the other blonde commended drily. That was another point in Roxas' favor as far as Vanitas was concerned; he'd be most likely to get the ebony-haired boy's reluctance to deal with people. His brother and other two friends certainly didn't. The nine-year old was just as reluctant to give the boy a chance, though. He wasn't sure it was worth the risk to his Heart. He continued to watch as Sora and Ventus started to bond over 'evil older siblings' and rolled his eyes at the exchange. 'Wonderful,' he groused internally, 'My brother likes the annoying one. Fucking hell…' He was relieved that Riku seemed to get along with the twin he didn't mind; the older boy knew his friend was a pretty good judge of character. Vanitas maintained that he was a better judge, but also acknowledged that his paranoia was a bit of a handicap. Still, the fact that his best friend also liked the blonde was a good sign. He was _definitely_ interested in the bit about their dad being the new teacher, and his attention focused as the conversation drifted back to that topic. "Yeah, we heard from Kairi a bit about your last teacher," Ventus had admitted to a question from the silver-haired boy, "Teachers like that are disgraces, my dad always said. He was heading over to the schoolhouse when we left to take stock and get started on his lesson plans. Fortunately, we made good time so there's still two weeks left before vacation ends. That should be enough time for him to get set." "Well at least he's making an effort," Sora commented with a sharp glance towards his older sibling, "What's he like?"

"Well, he's definitely a serious teacher," the younger blonde said with a grin, "He tries to engage his students in discussions about the material. He likes to say that there are no stupid questions. Only stupid answers and he has no tolerance for stupid answers. He was always visiting the library back in Twilight Town to try and stay caught up on his extracu…um…uh…Roxas?" "Extracurricular reading," Roxas filled in, "I don't know why you have such a hard time with that word." "My tongue gets all tangled," Ventus grumbled before he continued, "Anyways, dad's a big reader. It always made him sad that we never had enough money for him to buy books of his own. It all went to keeping us fed and clothed. He also really likes our new house because its way bigger and less broken than our old apartment. The plumbing didn't work all the time…and the power cut out a lot…and the heating… It was also really hot in the summer. Everything seems to work right in our new house, so he's really happy. He wasn't so happy with Kairi's mom after Kairi lost her temper. He's never been a big fan of prejudice. I think it comes with being a teacher… Um, my dad was also a bit nervous that your brother would come after him when Kairi first started talking about how the last teacher faired. He calmed down after he heard about the tutoring thing, though. I think he respected that. Dad's pretty big on students helping each other learn which is probably why he assigns so many group projects. Basically, my dad really loves teaching. He thought the job out here was a blessing because we weren't doing so well before it came…" Vanitas had paid very close attention during the younger twin's long-winded explanation and had to admit he liked what he'd heard. 'I'll hold off on my plans for the first week and see how he does,' the black-haired boy decided, 'If I like what I see then I'll cancel them. If I don't…well, I'll be surprised, but I won't hold back.' He had pretty much lost interest in the remainder of the conversation by this point and had started to tune out as he focused on the breathing exercise Yuki had recommended to help him focus his casting. However, just as he was getting into the rhythm he was interrupted by a poke to his shoulder. The older boy growled and opened his eyes to see Kairi standing in front of him with an annoyed look on her face.

"Why are you ignoring us," she scowled. "I'm not. I'm trying to meditate," Vanitas defended with an annoyed frown. "You're standing over here," the red-head continued as though she hadn't heard him, "being even more antisocial than normal and I want to know _why_. You weren't anywhere near this bad when you first met me." "I also wasn't a killer then," the golden-eyed boy retorted, "that kind of thing changes people. Besides I already told you I wasn't interested in meeting the new kids. I was _hoping_ you'd respect my opinion." The girl gave her older friend a measured look, "Sora's right, you know. You push people away way too much, and I don't think it's entirely because you had to kill your fa-" "Akira was _not_ my father," the nine-year old snapped coldly. "Fine," Kairi rolled her eyes, "Your long-time abuser. Happy?" "Increasingly rarely," Vanitas quipped sarcastically. "Hilarious," his female friend responded flatly before she jammed a finger into his chest, "The point is I think you're lying about why you push people away." The ebony-haired boy sighed before he admitted bitterly, "It's not a lie…but it isn't the full truth either. Look, I don't want to talk about it. It's just…better if people stay away from me. That's all." "But that isn't fair to _them_ ," the red-head pointed back at the twins as she met her taller friend's golden gaze, "They were really excited to meet you. Well," she amended in the face of his skeptically raised eyebrow, "Ven was excited, but Roxas was definitely interested. I think you'd like him if you tried. He's really quiet and respectful. Just give them a chance!" "It's a bad idea," Vanitas shook his head, "I shouldn't." "But you will," she asked hopefully. "…You aren't going to let this go are you," the older boy sighed in annoyance. Kairi gave her friend a look and grinned, "C'mon Vanitas. You know the answer to that. So are you going to at least _try_ to give them a chance?" The black-haired boy groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, "…Fine. I'll try, but I make no promises." "Considering who I'm talking to," the red-head quipped sardonically, "I'll take what I can get." She then turned and walked back to the others leaving the dark-haired boy to his solitude.

Roxas spent much of the time Ven was talking trying subtly to catch Captain Shimomura's attention. The silver-haired man finally noticed the quiet twin's efforts as the conversation started to die down. He walked over to stand next to the boy and glanced down with a raised eyebrow, "I'm guessing the reason you keep glancing at me is because you want something. Is there something wrong?" The older blonde scratched his head sheepishly, "Not exactly… Um, do you give fighting lessons?" "Not officially," the Watch Captain replied, "but I suppose that is one way to describe what this has grown into. Really, I just noticed my son and his friends had an interest when they were younger, so I figured I may as well train them and see how far they'd go." "Could you train me," the boy asked hopefully, "I've always wanted to learn how to fight." The blue-eyed man hummed thoughtfully as Roxas widened his eyes imploringly before he chuckled and sighed, "I suppose I could. It's mostly sword work, though. I might move on to hand-to-hand at some point, but for the past five years it's been sword-play. Is that alright?" The blonde's eyes lit up gleefully, "It's perfect! Thank you, Captain Shimomura!" Touya shook his head, "Just Touya is fine. I'm not the Captain of the Watch in here." The older twin nodded and bowed respectfully, "Yes, Master Touya." "I'm not a master either," the man sighed, "Really, I'm just average at best. Besides, I'm not big on formalities when I'm off duty." Sora had been eavesdropping and interjected at that point, "He doesn't like it when Riku or my brother call him 'Master Shimomura' either. I just call him Uncle Touya!" Roxas blinked and frowned, "Uncle…?" "Well, he's my godfather," the brunette admitted, "but he's always been more like an uncle to me! Besides we are kind of related…um… What was it again?" "I'm Akira's cousin," Touya clarified, "Don't ask me the genealogical term for that. I don't know it." "Who's Akira," Ventus wondered having noticed the conversation. "A jerk," Kairi muttered bitterly. Mr. Shimomura sighed before clarifying further, "Akira was Sora and Vanitas' father-" "Still denying that," the brunette scowled, "He was the man my mom was married to. That's the closest I'm gonna get." The silver-haired man shook his head before continuing, "Better than your brother, I guess. He's still holding a grudge and the man's been dead for over a year… Anyways, he _was_ still their father biologically. We're related through him."

Roxas frowned as he made the connection between Kairi's warning about rumors regarding Vanitas, the heavy implication that the Yagami boys were orphans, and the apparent lingering hostility between said boys and their dead father. "Something bad happened," he whispered to himself, "Something bad enough that it left these guys orphaned…and caused vicious rumors to spread… I wonder…" Ventus blinked, "You say something, Rox?" The older twin shook his head, "Nothing important." The more reserved blonde was determined not to ask what happened just yet. He didn't _want_ to know before he was more familiar with the people involved, but he knew that if his twin got curious that the younger boy _would_ ask. It was best to keep his suspicions to himself. Ven frowned at his older sibling, "You sure?" "Yeah. I was just thinking aloud," Roxas smiled lightly, "You know me." "That is still a really weird habit," the younger blonde sighed before he shrugged and grinned impishly, "Guess you can't be a mute all the time, huh?" "Not. A. Mute," his twin growled back, "I'm just not a motor-mouth like you." "Hey," Ventus sulked, "I am not a motor-mouth." "Yes," the older blonde replied, "You are." "Not!" "Are." "Not!" "Are." "NOT!" "You're loud too." "ARRGH!" Ven lunged at his older twin who dodged out of the way with a smirk. Sora shook his head and grinned at Riku, "I like these guys! They remind me of me and Vani." The silver-haired boy snorted and gave his younger friend a look, "I can't believe you are still using that nickname…but yeah. They kind of do." Roxas kept evading his younger twin's attempts to tackle him before he idly stuck his foot out, tripped the younger boy, and pinned the boy with his foot. "You're kind of emotional too," he observed as his twin squirmed. "GET OFF," Ventus snarled. "And have you go back to trying to attack me? Yeah, no," the older blonde grinned, "Maybe once you calm down." Ven growled menacingly at his twin. Everyone froze abruptly as an outburst of chilling laughter sounded across the courtyard.

Vanitas simply could not hold back his amusement any longer and had finally given in; his laugh had only gotten darker since his parent's death, and had recently gained a slightly deranged edge. "Too…funny," he gasped between laughs, "AhHAhahahahahaha…" 'Creepiest laugh ever,' were the twins thoughts. 'Does he _have_ to sound like a maniac when he laughs,' Sora groaned as he facepalmed, ' _Really?!_ ' 'It wasn't _that_ funny,' Kairi and Riku shook their heads in exasperation. '…My godson has the strangest sense of humor,' Touya sighed. Ven glanced up at his twin as the laughter quieted, "So…that happened. Let me up now?" Roxas shrugged and moved back, "Eh, sure." The younger twin stood, brushed himself off, and looked at the brunette, "Does he always laugh like that?" The brown-haired boy sighed, "It's actually gotten worse this past year. I swear he's doing it deliberately." "I am not," Vanitas called over revealing his insanely sensitive hearing, "Swear to Kingdom Hearts, Light, and Darkness I am not." "How…did he hear that," the sole female wondered. "It's Vanitas," the silver-haired boy responded, "We don't question it." He was then pegged in the head by said black-haired boy's training blade; he'd thrown it clear across the courtyard with perfect accuracy. "I heard that, too," the golden-eyed boy smirked. "Nice throw," Roxas observed calmly drawing an incredulous look from both his twin and Sora. Gold eyes shifted to the older twin who had just started smiling innocently in response to the looks. 'I could grow to like this guy,' Vanitas admitted to himself, 'Not letting on to Kairi, though. She'd gloat.' He continued to watch the other kids as they started questioning the older blonde and was unable to prevent his smirk from spreading as the boy in question just stared back at them without answering. The other boy certainly had a devious streak and the ebony-haired boy respected that. Maybe there was a chance they could become friends after all.

 **A/N:** So not as long as last time, but it was an introduction chapter. Not much happened. We're starting to see the results of Vanitas' resolve to withdraw from people in order to protect himself. I actually kind of like his laugh. Mine sounds kind of similar…strange, but true. Next chapter will be introducing our last protagonist for this book. Five more will be added in the next one. I realize I am not making things easy for myself character development-wise. Considering I don't want to focus too much on Vanitas…but it is really hard because he is just so much fun to write! Still…I really want to avoid the writing problems that crop up in the Final Fantasy series. You know how they focus so much on the protagonist that the other characters are just kind of there? I'm trying to avoid that. Not too sure how successful I'll be considering how many characters I have to work with, but I'm gonna try. I admit…I do not really know Ventus' character all that well. He's probably really out of character…then again he is also eight years old. NONE of these guys are in-character canonically because they're still little kids. Getting older though. Vanitas and Riku will both be ten as of next chapter. Then it's mostly going to be a few character building chapters as they all bond…also the others still need to learn about Vanitas' powers. And Riku's. Then the end climax for this book…which is going to be a few chapters long. A lot happens. Also there's the wind-down, the resolution, and the epilogue which provide the transition into book two. Hopefully I can finish this before classes start. Stupid college getting in the way of my writing… I'm gonna go sulk now. See you next time!


	12. Friendship Gained

**A/N:** Changed my mind again. Instead of introducing the last protagonist for this book I am going to do a bonding chapter. Specifically, Vanitas accepting the only twin he actually tolerates as a new friend. He needs more friends. They're about half-way through the school-year as of the start of this chapter, so its winter now. Don't expect snowball fights or anything. Between latitude and altitude it just doesn't get cold enough for snow where they live…normally. Think Pacific Northwest in the winter if you need context. Personally, I prefer chilly and rainy to snowy and cold; mostly because I was born, and spent the first nine years of my life, in that region. Due to how I have their birth order set up…Vanitas, Roxas, and Ventus are the only ones who have gone up a year in age. They have fall and winter birthdays while the others have theirs in spring and summer. I made a table to keep track. I do things like that. I'm not going to be putting the exact dates in the story because they have no relevance to the actual plot. They're just background detail. Anyone who _wants_ to know the exact dates can PM me or ask in a review. Also, as a note to anyone interested in the full content of the lecture at the start of this chapter…it's pretty much just going over how the two forces interrelate and how, so long as one exists, so too will the other. It also covers how both are, in fact, necessary to maintain the world's Balance. I could write it out…but that would make the chapter _really_ long. You do not want to get me started on quasi-philosophical topics! I can talk, or write, for _hours_. You'll get bored. I do not want to bore you guys. That is why I am not including the full lecture; now onto the story.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 11: Friendship Gained

Vanitas watched Mr. Harris intently; it wasn't out of a desire to be threatening, though. The man's response to his latest question had turned into an interesting lecture. Who knew that asking why Darkness had such a lousy reputation would result in such a detailed response? "So in conclusion," the golden blonde-haired man was wrapping up his lecture, "the claims made by advocates of the superiority of Light over Darkness – not to mention Darkness over Light – are, quite frankly, nonsense. Regardless of whose telling it, the old tales are pretty clear that the reason the world was shattered in the first place was an imbalance. Admittedly, last time it was the Darkness that went out of balance, but there is no reason that an imbalance of Light should be any less damaging. This is why the Balanced kingdoms are so important. They ensure that neither Darkness nor Light grow too influential. It is also why I am proud to live in a kingdom whose rulers have realized this truth: _Darkness is just as vital to the world order as Light_. _That_ is what I want you all to take away from today's lesson if nothing else." "But everyone knows Darkness is bad," one of the older kids protested. Mr. Harris sighed, "Ah, prejudice. I realize change is slow out here, but the truth is that it is only in remote regions like this that anyone still believes those old superstitions about Darkness being evil. The rest of the kingdom has fully accepted the truth about the two Cardinal Forces and are happier for it. Yes, we still have the occasional problems with the Heartless. They are a nuisance that will always be around in one way or another. Their existence _is_ tied to the Heart after all. Besides, I know for a fact that the corrupt creatures of Light known as Lumens are just as much of a pain in both Dark and Balanced kingdoms. They don't pop up as often in Light kingdoms, but the odd attack does still occur." "My dad says that Lumens are just lies made up by Darkness lovers to discredit the Light," an older girl said smugly.

Mr. Harris raised his eyebrow and smirked, "A lie, is it Miss Takamori? Well, I do believe I can disprove that assertion." He then turned and dug through his desk until he found a scrapbook. Vanitas smirked darkly as the man looked up and met the older girl's eyes. "This album was put together by my grandfather who was a photojournalist. He had no love of the Darkness himself, but _did_ care deeply about reporting the truth at any cost. Even if it challenged his own beliefs," the teacher pulled several pictures out of the middle of the album and started setting up the old overhead projector as he talked, "He encountered a creature on one of his assignments that took out most of the rest of his crew. The only survivors were those who managed to swim across a nearby river and climb the trees on the other side. It managed to follow them across, but it could not climb up after them. They were trapped up there for days as it lurked down below before a Heartless appeared; it was drawn by their fear. The creature and the Heartless viciously attacked each other on sight and ended up destroying one another allowing the trapped survivors to climb down. They all returned home a little wiser for the encounter. My grandfather was among the survivors and was the only one to remain level-headed enough to realize that a record should be made of the creature's existence. His camera was in a waterproof case that he had not let go of in his flight. So…he pulled it out…and snapped several shots of the creature as it menaced them…and of its fight with the Heartless. He filled up an entire roll of film," he paused again as he placed the pictures on the projector and turned it on, "Tell me, Miss Takamori, does this look fake to you?" The images displayed on the wall showed an emaciated crystalline creature that glowed brightly; its shape vaguely resembled a dog-sized praying mantis except for its head. The head was disturbingly human with a recognizable face, but its most horrifying aspect was its eyes; they were flat, blue, and soul-less…also there were eight of them arranged like a jumping spider's. It was crouched low to the ground and staring upwards intently; the image was slightly blurred as though the photographer's hands were shaking. Mr. Harris slowly removed the picture and put up a new one; the creature was stretching up the tree's trunk as far as it could, but was clearly incapable of getting a grip. Its face was still expressionless, but that somehow made it even more menacing. The teacher cycled through several more images which showed the same creature moving between several trees; some were clearer than others as the photographer seemed to be calmer the further away it was. Finally he put up the final set which showed the arrival of a Neo-Shadow Heartless, the creature's reaction, their brutal fight, and the bright flash as the creature died mixed with the burst of dark mist as its counterpart also perished.

Mr. Harris' face was solemn, "That was a Lumen. I do not know what this particular variant is called, but that doesn't matter now. What matters is that you realize that they are _real_ and that they are _dangerous_. They can only be killed by Darkness as Light only makes them stronger. This is yet another reason…why Darkness is vital. If it hadn't been for that Heartless…my grandfather would have died…because there were no Darkness wielders in that part of Lux. They'd all been killed off years ago…because of _prejudice_ and _hatred_." His voice was cold as ice on the last two sentences of his lecture. The Takamori girl had had an utterly horrified expression on her face as she'd watched the pictures flash across the wall, but now her face was red with fury. "I… That doesn't… I don't…," she sputtered as she struggled to defend her beliefs in spite of the evidence she had been presented with, " _That doesn't mean Darkness is better_!" Vanitas winced as she screeched her defiance, but was startled when Roxas snorted and twisted in his seat. "Well, you clearly missed the point," he sneered, "Light can be just as dangerous as Darkness. Denying it only makes it easier for a Lumen to kill you…and turn you into one of _them_ … Seriously, Sakura, use your brain." Sakura Takamori screeched again, " _How dare you! You… You… YOU DARKNESS LOVER!_ " The blonde only rolled his eyes, "Oh, please." Mr. Harris shook his head, "That's enough, son. Miss Takamori, there is no excuse for such baseless accusations. If anything you are proving my point about prejudice. You are letting your fear and hatred speak for you, and are only hurting your own credibility." The older girl froze as she realized that the teacher was right; rest of the class were giving her looks ranging from incredulous to flat out scornful; except for Vanitas who had his 'you are an idiot and are wasting my air' expression. The black-haired boy had a whole catalogue of expressions that covered variants of his opinion of one's idiocy; this was number thirty-seven. Sakura glowered at him, but shrunk down in her seat with her lips clamped shut. Mr. Harris nodded and checked his watch, "Well, it seems it's time for physical activity. Everyone head outside and I will meet you there once I put all of this away." The class chorused their agreement, "Yes, Mr. Harris," and followed his instructions.

Sora was grinning at Roxas as he leaned against the schoolhouse. "Wow. You really showed her, huh," he commented gleefully. The older twin rolled his eyes as his brother placed his hands behind his head and smirked, "Rox always did have a problem with stupid people. Of course he has a pretty broad definition of stupid. It covers people who are just close-minded to people who are genuinely idiots to people who are ignorant to people who are just plain delusional." "Sakura's more stuck-up than anything," Riku groaned, "Trust me. I've had to be polite to her at _way_ too many of my parents' parties. The Takamoris throw a fit if they aren't invited and, since they are our next door neighbors, we kind of _have_ to invite them if we don't want our lives to be a living hell." Vanitas perked up at that, "You just swore! I'm rubbing off on you!" Kairi cringed, "Kingdom Hearts forbid… One of you is bad enough." Roxas eyed the black-haired boy curiously, but didn't comment. He was under the impression the older boy didn't like the twins, so he was slightly puzzled as to why the ten-year old wasn't standing off to the side like he usually did. Golden eyes met blue as the ebony-haired boy smirked, "By the way… Your dad rocks as a teacher." Both twins gaped as the taller boy turned and walked away whistling cheerfully. "Is it just me," Ventus wondered, "Or was he actually…nice to us…" Sora shook his head, "More like he was being nice to your dad. He's stated several times that he's one of the only adults other than our godparents that he actually likes. I think it's because your dad treats him like a normal kid. Not many people do that…" Roxas scowled darkly, "I've noticed." The older twin did _not_ like the way the dark-haired boy was treated by the other villagers. They weren't subtle about their dislike, though they never did anything worse than yell at him. If there was _one_ trait all the Harris family had in common it was that they all _despised_ prejudice in all its forms. Where they differed was in how they dealt with it. Xenosa would frown disapprovingly and gently scold the offender; she was not an aggressive woman. Marcus focused his efforts on changing the outlooks of the village children; he figured the adults were far to set in their ways, but that he might still be able to reach the kids. Ventus would get all teary eyed and start to sniffle which usually made the offenders retract their statements…which was the entire point of his act; the younger twin _knew_ he was adorable and used it like a weapon. Roxas held it all inside, but made his displeasure known; he glared…pointedly. The older blonde had a reputation around town as having the coldest glare the villagers had ever seen on a nine-year old. Vanitas still held the record for most menacing glare.

That day's activity was soccer, and it soon became clear that the kids who trained under Captain Shimomura had an unfair advantage. The regular training meant that the Yagami boys, the Harris twins, Kairi, and Riku all had much faster reflexes and much higher endurance; also they were just plain fast. Mr. Harris ended up splitting them up so that they were on opposite teams just to make things fair. The split ended up with Vanitas, Roxas, and Kairi on one team while Sora, Ventus, and Riku were on the other. The reactions to the split were mixed; the twins were smirking at each other, Riku and Vanitas were glaring as their rivalry flared up, and Sora and Kairi just grinned brightly. "Loser buys everyone ice cream," the brunette offered as a bet. His female friend laughed, "You're on!" The two taller boys were growling now as they stood over the ball. "No cheating," the silver-haired boy glared. His older friend sneered back, "Please. Like I'll need to." Ven stretched as he offered a challenging grin to his twin, "So…bet I can score a goal before you do!" The older twin smirked, "No bet. There's no way you'd get past Vanitas. Remember his last sparring match against Riku?" The younger boy flinched, "Ah…good point. He's scary when he gets competitive." Both twins looked over at where the color-swapped best friends were standing nose to nose and sweatdropped. "To be fair," Roxas admitted, "Riku is just as bad sometimes. Glad I'm not playing goalie." "Same here," his twin agreed fervently, "May Kingdom Hearts have mercy on their souls…" The two kids slated to play goalie were also watching Vanitas and Riku's stand off and were contemplating running away screaming the second the game started. They knew it was their responsibility to defend the goals, but they also wanted to live. Across the field they met eyes and nodded; yeah, they preferred living to winning. As soon as that whistle blew they were making a break for it, and their team-mates would just have to fend for themselves. Mr. Harris, oblivious to the plotting of the goalies, eyed the two overly-competitive best friends warily and wondered briefly if he'd made a mistake placing them on separate teams. 'Then again,' he considered, 'If they were on the _same_ team their opponents wouldn't stand a chance. They work way too well together.' "Now I want this to be a good clean game," the teacher stated as he held the whistle up to his mouth. The rest of the students, who had been eyeing the two growling boys, turned to look at their instructor incredulously and all had the same thought, 'With _those_ two going at it already?! Not happening! I think I'm going to hang along the sidelines and try not to get caught in the crossfire.' The whistle blew, Vanitas and Riku both lunged for the ball, the goalies screamed and ran, and everyone other than Sora, Roxas, Ventus, and Kairi made for the sidelines; no way in hell were they getting caught up in that crazy rivalry.

The game went about as well as you would expect; Mr. Harris left to try to catch the goalies and convince them to come back…which meant the game itself was completely unmonitored for a few minutes. Sora and the others soon realized that they were unlikely to get the ball away from the hyper-competitive duo; they mostly tried to keep out of the way, though Ventus started to provide running commentary for his own amusement. "And Vanitas has the ball as he runs downfield. But wait, Riku is catching up and makes a sliding steal to knock the ball away before flipping back onto his feet and going after it himself! Vanitas isn't about to take this lying down and lunges after his rival," the younger twin narrated excitedly, "Riku runs back down the field, but Vanitas is close behind. Can he catch him? Can he catch him?!" Roxas walked over and smacked his twin upside the head, "Knock it off." "Thank you," Vanitas called as he ran, "That was really distracting!" The older blonde blinked in surprise at the uncharacteristic politeness from the older boy, "Uh, you're welcome…" Riku and his rival pretty much ended up playing goalie, defender, and forward striker. Sora leaned over to Kairi and whispered, "They aren't letting each other score… Our bet might be a draw." The red-head rolled her eyes and whispered back, "No kidding. Want to cancel it?" "Please," the brunette sighed as he watched his brother and best friend tear across the field, "and thank you." Mr. Harris returned with the goalies in tow before he froze at seeing what the game had devolved into and sighed. "How long," he asked his oldest son, "did it take for them to take over the entire game." Roxas frowned thoughtfully before he responded, "I think…about two seconds after you went to retrieve the goalies. You _really_ underestimated them, dad." "I can see that," the teacher sighed, "Remind me never to let those two play competitive sports ever again." "Will do," both twins chorused as they continued to watch the two rivals go at it. As Sora suspected, the game ended in a draw which left both competitors disgruntled. Their classmates were pretty entertained by their reaction to that outcome, though. Vanitas always did have a creative vocabulary…

The school day ended with no further incidents, but it had also started to rain heavily making Vanitas scowl darkly at the sky. "Typical," he grumbled, "The one day we don't bring our umbrellas…and it's a fucking downpour…" "Language," Kairi chided mildly, "Besides, didn't you learn Aero recently? I think that spell can be used as a barrier…" "Learned it," the older boy grunted, "But I suck at it. I can make a candle go out. That's it." "We could run," Riku suggested, "That might keep us from getting _as_ wet." "Doubt I can keep from using my full speed," the black-haired boy admitted, "Which would keep me fairly dry…and also raise a bunch of questions I do _not_ want to answer. Ever. Not an option." "I could run home," Roxas offered, "We have a three umbrellas there, and my dad might loan me his while I make the trip. I think they're big enough that we could double up and keep mostly dry. Besides it's not that far away." Vanitas looked over at the older blonde and grinned lightly, "Sounds good to me. Let's go with that one." The older twin stared at the dark-haired boy in shock, 'I'm not sure if that's the second or third time he's been nice to me, but it is starting to freak me out.' Golden eyes blinked in confusion at the dumbfounded look on the quiet twin's face, "Uh, are you okay?" Roxas smacked himself internally and shook his head, "Fine. Um, I'll go talk to my dad." He walked off in a slight daze as he tried to work out what was up with the older boy. Why was he being so _nice_? While he was gone the other kids gave Vanitas odd looks which, in turn, caused his scowl to return. "What," he snapped in annoyance, "is up with those looks you're giving me? Seriously, what the hell?" Sora stared at his older sibling, "You being nice to the twins is weird." "I'm not being nice to the twins," the older boy snorted, "I'm being nice to Roxas." "Wait," Ventus held up his hand, "You're being nice to my brother. Specifically? Why?" "I've got a better question," came the caustic response, "Why is it any business of yours, idiot?" Ven scowled in annoyance; for some reason he could not understand the older Yagami always referred to him as 'idiot'. He wasn't an idiot! "Now this is the attitude I'm used to," Riku mused, "You really are only being nice to Roxas…" Kairi got a smug grin on her face which made the golden-eyed boy cringe internally, "I think I know why…" "Then keep it to yourself," Vanitas growled, "It's bad enough that I can't keep things from Sora. I don't need other people butting in on my personal life as well." Sora cringed at his older brother's veiled reference to their link; it still really bothered him that he couldn't keep his feelings to himself, and the younger boy couldn't help but feel guilty. It had gotten worse recently since the link was now transmitting the brunette's feelings across as well. They were both dreading the day their _thoughts_ started to bleed through, though the older of the two was determined to gain enough control that he could block it off. The younger sibling hoped his brother succeeded; the link may have been useful in the past, but now it was just making things awkward.

Roxas returned with his father's umbrella and promptly headed back to his home; he was still puzzling over Vanitas' recent behavior. 'Okay, so maybe he's never been overtly rude to me like he has Ventus. He's mostly been distant," the blonde considered as he walked, 'So why has that changed? What is going _on_ with him all of a sudden? He was his usual cold self yesterday. What changed between then and now? This is gonna drive me nuts!' His house was maybe a minute away from the school, so it didn't take him long to arrive at his destination. The older twin greeted his mother, explained why he needed the umbrellas, and awkwardly tried to work out how he was going to carry them back while still carrying his dad's umbrella. He ended up tucking them under one arm and praying he wouldn't drop them in the mud. Roxas then bid his mother farewell as he headed back to the school. "At least Ventus can help me carry these back home," he muttered as he passed the neighboring apartment complex and sighted the schoolyard, "They are freaking awkward." The nine-year old arrived back at the school to find his friends, twin, and Vanitas standing under the front porch with his father. "I need my umbrella back," Mr. Harris explained in response to his older son's questioning look, "Your mother asked me to pick up some groceries before I headed back home." "Ah," the older twin replied, "Okay. Just let me hand out the extras." The twins' father nodded and waited patiently as Riku and Sora both claimed an umbrella leaving Roxas with the last one. The older blonde then returned the one he'd borrowed to his father; the man smiled in thanks before he headed off to take care of his errands. "So how are we going to do this," Kairi asked. "I've worked it out," the black-haired boy smirked, "You go with Riku, I'll go with Sora, and the twins can share the last one. Speaking of which…Sora give me the umbrella. You're too short for me to fit under it." "Not that short," the brunette grumbled as he complied. "Still shorter than me," his older brother grinned in response, "Now pair up and let's go."

The walk to the other side of town was fairly quiet. Vanitas had clammed up in response to the other kids' questions about his changed behavior, and Roxas was still desperately trying to work it out for himself. The remaining conversation was stilted at best considering the sheer annoyance emanating from the oldest of their group, and the utter befuddlement radiating from the older of the Harris twins; it was kind of distracting. Sora and his brother hung back as Riku delivered Kairi to her parents' house. Ventus and his twin were only tagging along so they could bring the umbrellas back to _their_ home, so they hung back as well. The five boys then made the short trek from the Uchida house to the Shimomuras' place. The silver-haired boy handed his umbrella off to Ven before heading in, and was followed swiftly by his younger brunette friend. Vanitas frowned before he spoke up finally, "Roxas, I need to talk to you. Preferably where no one can eavesdrop." Roxas gaped briefly before he responded, "Uh, okay. Um, Ven would you mind hanging out by the gate? I'll catch up." The younger twin rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure. The rain's so loud it's not like I'll be hearing much anyways…" The black-haired boy waited patiently for the younger blonde to be out of range before he sighed, "I'm guessing you're pretty confused about why I've been less of a jerk today." The older blonde stared blankly before he responded in a flat tone, "Now whatever gave you _that_ idea. It was only _blindingly obvious_." Vanitas sighed again, "I deserved that. Look, I'm not good with people. The first eight years of my life kind of messed me up. But the reason I've been acting so different is, well, I want to be friends with you. I've been thinking about it for a while and I finally made up my mind last night. I didn't mean to weird you out so much…" Roxas blinked, "Wait. Really? You want to be friends? _That's_ what's behind the sudden personality shift? …Why didn't I think of that?" The older boy shrugged, "Beats me. So…um…what do you say? Friends?" He held out his hand tentatively and half-cringed as though he expected rejection. The blonde gave the other boy a measured look, shook his head, laughed, and took the outstretched hand with his own, "Ven is going to be _so_ jealous. Yeah, we can be friends. I'm gonna be getting you back for confusing me, though. Fair warning." He smirked on the last sentence as the older boy blinked in surprise before he grinned faintly. "Thanks," he replied, "You know, for not saying no…and the warning I guess. But really I was not expecting you to say yes." The blue-eyed boy shrugged in response as he released the handshake, "With all the crap you take from the villagers, I figure you could use a few more people on your side. Besides you were never that bad. Well, at least not towards me." "That's because you were always tolerable" the golden-eyed boy replied as he brought his hand up to the back of his neck awkwardly, "Your twin annoys the hell out of me. Speaking of, you might want to get him to stay away from me. I'm not sure how much longer I can resist the urge to deck him."

Roxas stared at his new friend, "Wow. Didn't realize he annoyed you _that_ much. I mean, he's not _that_ different from _your_ brother…" "I know," Vanitas groaned in exasperation, "I'm not even sure _why_ he annoys me so much which – go figure – ticks me off even more. I'm annoyed by the fact that I don't know why he bugs me. Try and work _that_ out." The blonde shook his head in amazement, "I don't think I want to… Alright, I'll pass on the warning, but it's going to be pretty hard to avoid him. He and Sora are pretty close." "I am aware," the older boy responded drily, "My control's usually pretty good when Sora's around. It's just when he approaches me when I'm on my own that it becomes more difficult. He needs to stop _doing_ that." "Sounds reasonable enough," the blue-eyed boy admitted, "I'm pretty sure I can talk him into leaving you alone." His new friend gave a relieved sigh, "Thanks. I don'twant to hurt him if I can avoid it. Contrary to popular opinion, I'm not _that_ violent…usually. I mean, I put up with Akira's shit for six years without doing anything worse than crushing his wrist after he tried to go after Sora." "Wait," Roxas stared and held up a hand, "You crushed your dad's-" "That bastard," Vanitas growled darkly, "Is _not_ my dad. Not after everything he…" The older boy trailed off as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. "Sorry," he continued as his eyes flicked back open, "I just…really loathe that man." "I'm getting the feeling there's a story here," the blonde deadpanned. "How about this," the dark-haired boy offered, "We spend the next few months getting to know each other better. Okay," he admitted in the face of his new friend's incredulous look, "it will be more _you_ getting to know _me_ better. After that…" He trailed off and sighed before giving the younger boy a rueful look, "I'm sure you've heard more than a few of the rumors floating around town about me by now." "I've been trying to ignore them, honestly," the blonde replied. Vanitas chuckled weakly, "You'd be one of the few." He then sighed and closed his eyes before speaking softly, "If you want to know the truth…I'll tell you then. I promise." Roxas was silent for a few moments before he replied, "I've had my own suspicions since we moved here…and I'm pretty sure they're closer than most of the rumors. I've been keeping them to myself though. Ventus is nosy. He'd make a pain of himself until somebody told him the whole thing." "Trust me," Vanitas said quietly, "He _doesn't_ want that. It's…bad… Sora still has nightmares…and he's _mostly_ gotten over it…" Roxas frowned, "Then…what about you…?"

The older boy closed his eyes and gave a tired sigh, "I…still have some issues. Why do you think it took me so long to warm up to you? I just…can't…lose anyone else. Not again…" He trailed off in a whisper as a spasm of pain flickered across his face; the blonde frowned in concern as he realized his suspicions must have been closer to the mark than he'd feared. 'He's not over it,' Roxas realized, 'It's been over a year, and he is _still_ grieving. That…is not good.' Vanitas shook his head abruptly and grinned weakly, "See? You already know more about me than most. I don't know why…but…you're easier for me to talk to than my other friends. Hell, I struggle to open up to Sora sometimes…" The blonde sighed, "If you really need to talk to somebody about it then I guess I can listen…but on one condition" The ebony-haired boy frowned warily, "What condition…?" The blue eyed boy's response was firm, "You'll have to tell my family too. Including Ven." The dark-haired boy cringed at that, "Oh. Great." The older twin sighed, "Look, I know you don't like my twin, but you should give him a chance. You don't have to like him…just…trust that he won't use what you say against you. He's not that kind of kid." "Trust," the older boy murmured, "You're asking a lot…" "Yeah, I'm getting the impression that whatever happened hurt you pretty badly-" "You have _no_ idea," the golden-eyed boy muttered. "-So," the younger boy continued with an annoyed look, "If you can't trust him then just trust _me_. _No one_ in my family is going to turn against you just for being honest. They might pity you a bit, if my suspicions are anywhere _near_ accurate, but that's the worst reaction I expect. So…are you willing to trust me?" He was the one to offer his hand this time; Vanitas looked at it warily before he sighed and grasped it, "I…think I already do… Alright, we have a deal." Roxas offered his best reassuring smile, "You won't regret it." The older boy returned the smile weakly, "I hope I don't… That would not…end well… Not for me…"

"Are you guys done yet," Ventus yelled from the gate, "It's getting dark, and I do _not_ want to walk back in the dark! It's creepy at night!" The older boy scowled in annoyance, "Darkness, he's loud…" "He does have a point though," the blonde admitted, "We should probably be heading back. See you tomorrow?" Golden eyes brightened as their owner smiled warmly, "Yeah. See you. Have fun making Ven jealous." "I'm an older brother," blue eyes twinkled with mirth, "Fun is a vast understatement." Vanitas laughed at that and Roxas twitched slightly as he realized that it had gotten slightly more deranged than the first time he'd heard it. The ebony-haired boy shook his head and grinned, "Thanks again…for agreeing to be my friend…" The blonde smirked back, "No problem. I'm kind of looking forward to hanging out with you. You always _did_ seem interesting…" He walked with his new friend over to the door before reclaiming the last umbrella; he then waved cheerfully before heading back down the path. "'Interesting' is an understatement, Roxas," the dark-haired boy whispered as he watched his friend walk away, "Believe me…"

Vanitas was not surprised to find his best friend and brother lurking expectantly in the living room. "Really, you two," he sighed exasperatedly, "This's kind of creepy. Are you _trying_ to annoy me? Because it's working." Sora scowled at his older brother, "Your emotions were a freaking roller coaster while you were out there. Forgive me for being worried!" The older boy's expression softened, "Sora… I'm fine. Really." Riku rolled his eyes, "You're also a really good actor when you want to be. I'm not convinced." Golden eyes narrowed, "Look. The only reasons my emotions were weird is because I finally decided I wanted to be Roxas' friend. Happy?" "Wait," the brunette blinked, "What?! Is that why you were acting all weird today?" "Yep," was the older Yagami's blunt response, "I asked. He said yes. We talked a bit. We're friends now." The silver-haired boy grinned slightly, "Of course, you realize, Kairi is going to say 'I told you so' for the next few weeks." "I'm aware," Vanitas replied drily, "Why do you think I waited to _say_ anything until _after_ she was gone. I'm buying all the time I can get." Sora just kept blinking in surprise, "Wow. Ven was right. I owe him munny. Darn." The two older boys raised an eyebrow at the young brunette who responded, "Ventus bet me that Vani would warm up to Roxas before him. Something about evil older siblings bonding over tormenting their younger brothers." "You thought I'd warm up to _Ventus_ ," his older brother asked incredulously. "No," the brunette replied, "I thought you'd never warm up to either. You've been really distant lately, so…" Vanitas flinched, "I…come across as being that heartless? Really? Even to you guys?" "You aren't exactly cold to _us_ ," Riku admitted, "But you don't socialize as much. You mostly just watch and offer the odd comment every now and then. It's kind of hard to miss." The older boy flinched again before he confessed, "I know I've changed… I'm not the same person I was before…well…everything… I'm sorry…" The other two boys frowned as he looked down and closed his eyes with a sigh. "For what," Sora asked. His older brother simply shook his head and refused to answer. The silver-haired boy sighed, "Sora, let it go. He'll tell us when he wants to." The brunette frowned at his brother, "That weird feeling is back again… I don't like it…" Vanitas clenched his fists as his younger sibling's concern flashed across their link, but didn't look up, "Stop worrying about me. It's nothing I can't handle." "If you say so," the younger boy muttered uncertainly. Riku looked between the two siblings and had to fight down his own concern before pasting a playful smirk on his face. "So who wants to play video games before dinner," he challenged, "Just to unwind." Sora instantly brightened as he turned to his older friend, "Ooh! Me!" The golden-eyed boy threw his friend a suspicious glance about the sudden topic change, but shrugged, "Sure. Sounds fun." The aqua-eyed boy led his best friends on the way back to his room and internally congratulated himself on successfully diffusing the sudden rise in tension. He'd swear that the stronger the brothers' link got the more strained their actual relationship became. It was worrying.

Ventus eyed his older brother curiously as they walked back through the village, "So…what did Vanitas want to talk about?" His twin rolled his eyes, "Nosy as always." "C'mon," the younger blonde pleaded, "Tell me!" Roxas sighed, "He asked me to be his friend and I said yes." Ven blinked as his jaw dropped in surprise, "No way! You're friends now?! So not fair! I've been trying to get him to open up for months and all he does is call me an idiot!" The older twin grinned slightly, "About that…Vanitas also asked me to get you to back off. You're _really_ annoying him." "I haven't been annoying," Ven protested, "I've been being friendly! How is that annoying?" The other blonde shrugged, "You just need to stop pestering him when he's on his own. He's willing to tolerate you otherwise, but when you interrupt him when he just wants to be alone… His exact words were 'I'm not sure how much longer I can resist the urge to deck him'. You need to back off." Ventus looked utterly miserable as he slumped, "Aw, man… I only wanted to be friends… He's just so cool…" Roxas gave his twin a pitying look, "You're trying too hard. I mean, look at me. I didn't try to make Vanitas see me as a friend. I just treated him normally. That was apparently enough." The younger twin shot his brother a hopeful look, "So you think there is still a chance we could be friends, too?" The older boy scratched his head uncertainly, "Maybe. At the very least he might start to consider you a tolerable acquaintance. And stop with the whole 'idiot' thing." Ven slumped again, "Well, I suppose that would be a bit better…but I-" "I know," his brother sighed, "You want to be his friend. You just have to be patient." "I hate being patient, "the younger boy grumbled, "I hate it. I hate it. I hate it." Roxas chuckled at his twin's sulking, "Look at it this way. Sora owes you munny now." The other twin brightened up at that, "You're right! Hah! You owe me ten munny, Sora!" He started cackling evilly to himself as he walked and imagined what he'd do with his newfound income. The older boy simply shook his head in amusement at his twin's mood swings. 'He is such a nut sometimes,' he mused as he listened to the younger blonde's vocal daydreaming, 'but he's a good guy.' "I know," Ventus proclaimed suddenly, "I'll buy a cat!" "Cats cost more than ten munny," his twin pointed out. "A dog?" "Even more expensive." "…A mouse?" "Mom hates all rodents with a passion." "A fish?" "Back to being expensive." "A bird?" "Dad's allergic. Why do you keep suggesting animals?" "I've always wanted a pet," Ven admitted sheepishly. "Well," the older blonde drawled with a smirk, "You could always get a pet rock." "Lame." "Or a Venus fly-trap." "Plants aren't pets." The twins' eyes met and they both burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of their conversation. Roxas grinned at his brother, "How about you save your munny? Keep it up and you can buy yourself something _really_ cool." "I can make another bet with Sora," the younger blonde crowed. "Uh, no. Bad idea," his brother pointed out, "Gambling's addictive. I do not want an addict for a sibling. Besides, there's no guarantee you'll win next time." Ventus sighed, "Yeah…good point…" The twins chatted idly the rest of the way back home.

 **A/N:** Okay, so I also crammed in a bit of exposition. In my version of the KH universe there are also monsters born when Light goes out of control known as Lumens. Unlike Heartless they don't try to steal people's Hearts; they try to make their victims Hearts pure Light only…it's just as fatal to the victim as a Heartless attack. All Lumens look as though they're made of crystal, have human faces, and the same color, number, and arrangement of eyes; they are creepy buggers. Pure Lumen born directly from the Heart without the intervention of another Lumen are fairly rare; Light doesn't usually get out of hand as often as Darkness does. The overall population is pretty stable, though, because even that handful is enough to take down an entire village and convert its inhabitants into new Lumens. Furthermore, they can only be killed by Heartless, Darkness wielders…or Dark Keyblade wielders. The latter is rare regardless; there are only maybe a hundred active Keyblade wielders and Masters at any given time, and they are scattered all over the world. So yeah, Lumens are a problem. Still working out the exact mechanics of _how_ Light goes out of control and consumes a Heart. I'll probably have it figured out before they actually make an appearance in book three, though. Also, I may need to work out how technology works in this version of the KH universe. I know real overhead projectors need transparent images to work. I _did_ grow up in the 90s (mostly in small towns that didn't have the budgets for big tech upgrades). Just accept that _this_ version of overhead projector works off of a sort of tech that scans and projects images with magic or something. As I said, I still need to work some of these minor details out. Finally, YAY! VANITAS HAS A NEW FRIEND! And next chapter we gain the final member of the group! Well, final for this book. Technically, we've already seen her back in chapter six. Really, it should be obvious. I'm _only_ including _all_ the main characters from the games in this series… I'll stop now.


	13. The Healer's Apprentice

**A/N:** Finally at Namine's chapter. It occurs to me I am really bad at giving subtle hints. Actually, I'm just bad at subtlety in general. Tact is not one of my strong points… Anyways, this chapter will be mostly from her perspective. A bit a background to set you up. Everyone is either ten or nine-years old at this point, so it's summer break. Vanitas has revealed a condensed version of the Yagami Tragedy, as I have taken to calling it in my head, which leaves out all mention of the Darkness to the Harris family. It did not go badly. Roxas and Vanitas are both really close friends now, though the older boy still barely tolerates Ventus. That's pretty much all that's important. Oh, and if you're wondering about how everyone else dresses…pretty much either one of their canon outfits or the variant outfits people have come up with and posted on DeviantART (so useful as a reference…and a great source of inspiration, too.) Only the age appropriate ones though. They're still just kids, people! Don't be weird (sometimes I just do not _get_ some parts of fandom. Not just KH, but fandom in general. People are strange…) Now for the story.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 12: The Healer's Apprentice

Miwa 'Baba' Kadowaki sighed as she looked at her stock of medicinal herbs and shook her head. She was low on several of her more useful herbal remedies, and would need to gather more. Unfortunately, this was growing increasingly difficult as she aged; the eighty-three year old woman just could not travel as far as she needed to find the plants she needed anymore. The old healer sighed again as she rubbed the back of her neck and mused that old age, like many things in life, was a matter of give and take. It gave much in the way of experience which she could use to help others, but it also took one's strength in return. 'Well, at least I have an apprentice I can rely on,' the old woman chuckled as she glanced towards where her light-blonde haired ward was studying her tomes of curative magic. "Namine," Baba called, "come over here. I have a task for you." The nine-year old girl looked up from her studies and smiled softly, "Yes, master. Just let me mark my place." The white-haired healer smiled gently as she watched her young apprentice grab a bookmark, set it in place, close her book, set it back on the shelf, and walk over; she was such a tidy child. "What do you need me to do, Master," Namine asked politely as she stood before her mentor. The old healer gestured towards her stock, "I'm afraid we're running low on supplies. I can handle the ones that grow nearby, but I can't make it out to the willow grove or many of the other places where I gather my supplies. I need you to go out and gather them for me." The light-blonde haired girl nodded dutifully, "I can do that. What all do I need to collect?" "Willow bark," Baba replied firmly, "Also cedar bark, yew bark, lady fern, watercress, eyebright, wild mint, stinging nettle –you'll want to bring the gloves, dear –, common elderberry –both berries and bark, please –, and devil's club. Do you need the map to find the sites I use?" Namine nodded again, "I think I remember where they are, but the map would be nice. I don't want to get lost." The old woman chuckled, "Very well. I'll go grab it. Would you like me to ask one of the Watchmen to accompany you?" The blue-eyed girl shook her head, "No. I'll be fine on my own." The healer chuckled again at the girl's independence and walked into her bedroom to grab the map off of its shelf.

Namine smiled to herself as she walked behind her mentor on the way out of town; finally, her master was trusting her to identify, and collect, the herbs they used on her own. The nine-year old girl had spent the past five years studying what the plants looked like, where they grew, how to safely collect them, and also how they were applied. She was ready to put what she'd learned to use in the field, but Baba had never given her the opportunity…until now. The village was quiet for it was early in the morning, around 6:30 in fact, and not many people were up yet. The exception was probably the Captain of the Watch and his men. Namine remembered when he brought in a badly injured black-haired boy once, but had never really interacted with the man. She'd always wondered, in the back of her mind, how that boy was doing these days. The blonde girl started to dwell on him as she walked. She'd never actually learned his name. The girl had been out back cleaning and sterilizing the tools they'd used during the surgery while her master was covering the personal details. She wondered what his name was, where he lived, how well he'd recovered from his injuries, and if he was happy. Namine liked it when people were happy; it was part of the reason she'd been so eager to become a healer. She was so deep in her thoughts that she nearly ran into her mentor's back when the old woman suddenly stopped walking. The blonde girl peered around her master's back and was startled to see that there were, in fact, two other people awake and about. People who were _not_ watchmen. "Well," Baba chuckled, "I was not expecting to run into you boys so early. How are you today?" A ten-year old boy with black hair and golden eyes and a nine-year old boy with golden blonde hair and blue eyes met the old woman's gaze in surprise. "Uh," the blonde boy blinked, "I'm fine, I guess." The ebony-haired boy offered a wry smirk, "I don't get injured that often, Baba. Nice to see you when I'm not in pain for once, though." "Indeed it is," the girl's mentor replied cheerfully, "Nice as it is to talk to you when you aren't cursing up a storm," the dark-haired boy flushed as he glanced away awkwardly at that, "I'm afraid my apprentice and I have a full day ahead of us." Golden eyes locked on the healer as their owner asked inquisitively, "Oh? Doing what?" "Restocking some of our herbal remedies," the old healer responded, "Some of them are getting quite low." The two boys nodded before the older one met Namine's curious stare and raised an eyebrow; the blonde girl looked away shyly. She never noticed the puzzled look that crossed his face as he bid her master a good day. Instead, she hurried after her elderly mentor with her eyes fixed firmly on the ground. The shy blonde was entirely unaware that she'd caught the interest of the very boy she'd been wondering about.

"She seems familiar," Vanitas muttered as he watched the healer and her apprentice walk out the village gates, "I wonder why?" "What was that," Roxas asked his older friend curiously. The other boy was quiet for a few moments before he smirked and glanced at his friend, "So…how do you feel about helping me pay back a debt?" The blonde boy stared at his companion, "What debt?" "Baba _did_ save my life," the older boy pointed out, "I think helping her apprentice would be a good start to paying that back." "You have a real thing against owing people, "the blue-eyed boy sighed, "Don't you…" His dark-haired friend shrugged and started walking towards the gates, "Only a lot. Now come on! We need to catch up before she reaches the forest!" The older Harris twin sighed again as he followed after the older boy, "And…you aren't going to tell anyone where we're going." "Eh," the black-haired boy shrugged, "Sora and I have the link. If I start to feel him get worried I can send a wave of reassurance back so that he knows I'm okay. That should be enough." Roxas shook his head in amazement, "I still think it's strange how you guys have that when you aren't even twins. It'd be one thing if it were me and Ven… That'd be almost normal, but this… How did it even happen?" Vanitas shrugged casually, "No clue." The two boys walked on in silence after this; not long after they left the view of the village gates the older boy grabbed his friend's arm and winked. "Let's run," was the only warning he gave before he started to run. The younger blonde only had enough time to yelp before he had to start running as well just to keep his arm from being ripped out of its socket. Soon they were sprinting down the road; they'd catch up in no time at the pace the ebony-haired boy had set.

Namine hesitated by the edge of the forest. Now that she was there the young girl found she was less than confident about going in on her own. It was easy to be confident in her ability to look after herself back in the village, but with the trees towering overhead, the veils of mist drifting along the forest floor, and the persistent gloom…she was a bit scared to go in there alone. 'Maybe I should have accepted the escort after all," the girl bit her lip nervously, 'I don't remember it being quite this…spooky…' She struggled to work up her nerve when she was startled by the soft clearing of a throat behind her. The wide-eyed blonde spun around and saw the two boys from earlier standing behind her. The blonde boy was panting heavily while the dark-haired one was simply standing casually. It was the latter that had cleared his throat to catch her attention. "So," he drawled, "Is there a reason you're just standing there and staring at the trees?" Namine flushed as she looked down shyly; she'd always been nervous around new people. "Um," she stammered, "I was…um…trying to…uh…work up my…um…nerve…" "Hm," the older boy gave her a measuring look, "Is that so?" The other boy finally caught his breath and looked up at his friend incredulously, "How the heck are you not out of breath?!" The black-haired boy shrugged, "Among other things? Crazy endurance." The blonde straightened up and rubbed his forehead, "You enjoy being mysterious way too much…" His friend only smirked as the nine-year old boy gave the shy blonde a curious look, "Hey, are you okay? Your face is all red." The girl shifted awkwardly before she whispered back, "Yeah… I'm just…not good with…um…meeting new people…" The blue-eyed boy gave her a sympathetic look, "Hey, there's no need to be nervous. We just thought you could maybe use some help." Namine looked up hopefully, "Help?" The golden-eyed boy picked up where his friend left off, "You're nervous about heading in there," he gestured to the forest, "alone, right? We can go in with you and help you collect the plants you need." The blonde girl's expression brightened, "You will…? Um…thank you. Really… But why?" The older boy shrugged, "Reasons. Might tell you later." "Seriously," the other boy groaned, "Stop that. It's not helping." "It's fine," the blue-eyed girl smiled faintly before she bowed politely, "I'd really like the company… Um…can I have your names though? I don't really know you… It'd make me more comfortable…" The younger boy scratched his head with a sheepish grin, "Ah, right. Sorry. My name's Roxas. Roxas Harris. My dad teaches at the school." "Vanitas Yagami," the older boy offered with a smirk, "Village outcast and object of more senseless rumors than I care to keep track of." The blonde girl nodded at each of the boys, "Roxas…and Vanitas… My name is Namine. Namine Uchiyama."

Roxas grinned at the blonde girl, "Nice to meet you, Namine. So what are we looking for?" Namine smiled back softly, "Willow bark, cedar bark, yew bark, lady fern, watercress, eyebright, wild mint, stinging nettle, common elderberry, and devil's club. Don't worry," she held her hands up as the boys looked utterly lost, "I'll point them out to you. I know what I'm looking for." Vanitas nodded slowly, "I figured you would. Baba wouldn't send you out alone if you didn't. Alright, we'll follow your lead." The blonde girl's smile broadened slightly before she turned towards the forest and pulled out her map. "Let's see," she murmured quietly, "The nearest harvesting spot is…Starlight Spring. So we need to head…that way." The white-clad girl pointed due north and turned back to the boys, "Follow me." Her companions nodded and the trio set off into the forest. They mostly walked in silence with Roxas occasionally asking their female acquaintance questions about life as a healer. He avoided personal questions entirely and stuck to general topics like what plants had what effect, how they were used, if use of white magic was normal, how it was used, and other such things. Namine, in turn, would occasionally ask the boys questions about what school was like; her apprenticeship worked out so that she was effectively homeschooled. Vanitas let his friend handle most of the questions as he was still trying to work out why the girl was familiar. He was starting to suspect that the feeling was coming from his Heart. 'The weird thing is it almost feels like my Darkness is reacting to her as well,' he mused as he eyed her speculatively, 'It's…calmer somehow. Her presence is soothing…but why…? I'm never this relaxed around other people even if they _are_ familiar… I can't afford to be…so _why_ do I feel so calm around this Namine girl? It just doesn't make _sense_ …'

The walk to the spring took about half an hour and, by the time they arrived, Namine was fully comfortable around the boys. "We can find the watercress, willow bark, nettles, and devil's club here," the girl grinned, "The watercress will be growing right next to the water. So will the devil's club. The first has wavy-edged oblong leaves and white clustered flowers. The other has large, maple-like leaves with spiny stems. They're also really tall. You can't miss them. I'll handle the nettles and the willow bark." "Okay," Roxas nodded, "But what do we use to carry them back? It'd be kind of hard to carry back everything bare handed." The blonde girl reached into the pack on her back and pulled out rolls of cheesecloth, "Lay the plants out on this and roll them up once you're out of room. I have twine we can use to tie them up. If we have extra we can jury-rig a sort of harness for you guys to use. I normally just stuff everything into my pack." The two boys accepted the cheesecloth and headed to the water's edge to look for the plants she'd described. They found the watercress almost instantly. "I think Emiko makes sandwiches out of this stuff," Vanitas admitted as he plucked a leaf and twirled it between his fingers, "Didn't know it could be used to treat sick people, though." Roxas hummed thoughtfully as he rolled out the first length of fabric, "Me neither. I think it's kind of cool." The two boys started twisting off whole sprigs of leaves and laying them out on the cloth until the older paused and gave it a critical look. "I don't think we can fit any more on there and still roll it up," he decided. The younger boy nodded in agreement and started to roll the cheesecloth back up and setting it off to the side. He then pulled out another roll before he paused, "I forgot to ask how much of each we need… Hang on." The dark-haired boy merely rolled his eyes and flopped on his back as his friend stood up. The blonde shook his head at his older friend's behavior before he headed off to find Namine. He found her up in a willow tree carefully carving thin strips of willow bark off of the lower branches and stashing them in little glass jars with wire clamp-seal lids. "Hey, Namine,' the boy called up, "I forgot to ask how much of each plant we should collect." The girl paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully before she called back down, "Two rolls of the watercress should be fine. We need the entire devil's club plant, and since it's so big… It'll probably be easier to just gather them up, wrap them in cheesecloth, and cart them back over our shoulders… So we only need two bundles of that." Roxas grinned up at her, "Thanks. I'll tell Vanitas." "No problem," the blue-eyed girl responded with a smile before she got back to work harvesting the bark.

Roxas returned to Vanitas with Namine's directions and the two boys got back to work filling their second roll. Once they did, they set it aside with the first roll and started looking for the devil's club. "You'd think it would be easier to find since Namine said it was a tall plant," the older boy grumbled. The blonde shrugged, "It could have died off. Then again, this is a pretty big spring. Let's just keep walking." They had to go halfway around the spring before they found a stand of the towering plants. The younger boy stared incredulously at the four to nine foot tall stalks waving gently in the breeze, "I didn't think they were _that_ tall… And we're supposed to carry these?!" The dark-haired boy shoved a stalk lightly causing it to wave wildly and smirked, "Or I could just do it." His younger friend shifted his stare to the taller boy as the disbelief in his expression increased. Vanitas rolled his eyes and sighed. "Roxas," he commented wryly, "I crushed a grown man's wrist with one hand when I was six. And I have only gotten stronger since then. This is nothing." "Ah," Roxas blinked, "Right. I forgot. One of these days you're going to have to explain how that works…" The golden-eyed boy winced internally before he replied, "Maybe." He may have acknowledged to _himself_ that he wouldn't be able to keep his power over Darkness secret forever, but he was honestly terrified of how they'd react. What if they hated him like Akira did? It would break his Heart… The older boy kept his thoughts to himself, though, as they got to work uprooting the massive plants. Vanitas ended up doing most of the work simply because the Darkness made him that much stronger. He could pull up the entire plant with one hand. Roxas still tried to contribute by digging around the base of each stalk he targeted and alternately wiggling and tugging at the plant until it came up. His method was a lot slower, but it got the job done. It only took them a couple of minutes to collect enough stalks to form two bundles. Since the taller boy had volunteered to carry them himself, it was his call as to how much each bundle should contain. "I know my limits," he commented as he slung the bundles across his shoulders as a final test, "These two together aren't that heavy, but they are kind of bulky and awkward. This should be enough, though. Let's head back to Namine." The younger boy nodded in affirmation, "Alright."

Namine blinked in shock as the boys stood before her; the bundles were much bigger than she had been expecting, and the fact that Vanitas was carrying both with ease was not helping. "How…," she wondered, "are you…" Roxas then offered the explanation he'd adopted from Riku, "It's Vanitas. We just don't question it anymore." The older boy rolled his eyes and commented sarcastically, "You're hilarious, Roxas. Really. So is that everything we needed here?" The blonde girl shook her head to clear her mind. She looked over the two rolls of cheesecloth in the blonde boy's arms, mentally weighed in the five jars of willow bark in her pack, and glanced down at the bundle of stinging nettles wrapped in cheesecloth in her arms. "Yes," she concluded, "Now we just need to tie these up, rig a couple of harnesses for you guys-" "I'm fine like this," the dark-haired boy admitted, "Just worry about Roxas." "…Right," Namine laughed awkwardly, "Um, okay. Then I guess once Roxas is loaded up we head for the next spot." "Which is," Vanitas prompted. "A conifer grove further inland," the blonde girl replied, "We'll find the yew and cedar bark there. After that we'll just have the elderberries, the mint, the eyebright, and ferns left." Roxas grinned, "Well, let's get to it then." The two blonds pulled the bundle of twine out of the apprentice's pack and got to work binding the bundles together. The older boy had to set both of his down so they could be tied up and rolled his shoulders idly while he waited. He did try to pitch in on weaving together a harness for Roxas so he could carry the nettles and watercress, though. Unfortunately, he was not a very good weaver, so his segments ended up being a mess of knots that Namine had to untangle and re-weave. The blonde boy couldn't help snickering at the annoyed look on his friend's face which prompted said friend to shoot a dark glare his way. The younger boy raised his hands in apology, "Okay, I shouldn't have laughed. You don't need to take it so personally…" "Remember what I told you about my early childhood," Vanitas deadpanned, "And rethink that statement." The blue-eyed boy flinched guiltily, "Ah. Right. Now I _really_ regret laughing." The blonde girl tilted her head in confusion at the exchange. "I am so lost," she murmured as she tied the last loop of the harness. She then helped the other blonde slip it on and secured his bundles to his back. The golden-eyed boy had walked back over to _his_ bundles and slung them back over his shoulders while he waited. Soon they were all set and headed off for their next destination.

Collecting the yew and cedar bark didn't require the boys to do much. Namine simply pulled out her little knife and started carving thin strips of bark from the trunks of several trees. She only collected about six strips per tree, and even then the strips were fairly evenly spaced around the trunk. "It's so the trees stay healthy," she explained in response to Roxas' curious expression, "If I take too much from one tree then they won't be able to get enough nutrients up to their branches and then they'll get sick. Maybe even die. My master taught me to take only a small amount so that the trees can heal the damage easily." The blonde made a small, "Oh," of understanding before continuing to watch her work silently. The trio then headed for the final location; a clearing about two hours away that should have the remaining plants. "It opened up five years ago," Namine explained on the way, "During a big windstorm that knocked several trees over. My master said the Takamori's hired several people to take the lumber away which left the clearing bare. It soon filled up with lots of grass, shrubs, flowers, and ferns. It's our best bet." "Why would the Takamori's do that," Roxas wondered. Vanitas was the one to answer him, "That's how they make their money. The Takamoris are lumber barons. The Uchidas, up until recently, made their fortune in monster hunting. Kairi's grandmother used to be the foremost hunter of Heartless in Lux. She was pretty badass from what I've heard. Nowadays, though, the income Kairi's dad gets as mayor is enough to sustain them, so politics has become their new way of life." "And the Shimomura's," the blonde boy queried. "Combination of the salary Touya gets for being Captain of the Watch and Mika's dowry which is frankly insane," the dark-haired boy deadpanned, "They've barely even made a dent in it and they've been married for twelve years." Roxas blinked in surprise, "Whoa. Didn't realize Riku's family was _that_ rich…" "Most don't," Vanitas shrugged casually, "They tend to downplay it. Mostly because the Shimomura side was never that wealthy before Touya joined the Watch. He stayed humble even after he married into wealth. That and apparently he had no idea how rich Aunt Mika's family really was. She never said anything while they were dating, apparently, so the dowry was something of a shock. I nearly died laughing when Riku told me all of this, by the way. Made that year tolerable." "How old were you," Namine asked. "Seven," came the flat response, "Not the best year of my life, but still a lot better than my eighth. That was the worst." "Why," she pried. "Ask later," the golden-eyed boy sighed, "I'm having a pretty good day right now, and I would like to enjoy it for a bit longer. I don't have _nearly_ enough good days anymore. Fucking mood swings…" He trailed off in a whisper as he scowled at the ground.

When they finally arrived at the clearing Vanitas' eyes widened in amazement as he lowered his bundles to the ground. "Mom would have loved this place," he whispered as he took in the myriad flowers dancing in the breeze. Roxas glanced at his friend and couldn't help the grin that spread across his face; it wasn't often he saw the older boy's expression light up like that. "Beautiful, isn't it," Namine sighed happily, "I've always loved this clearing… It always made me think of a Fairy Land. Especially with the name my master came up with for it." "What name was that," the blonde boy asked. "Sanctuary of Rainbows," was her soft reply, "Because of how remote it is and because of the many colors of flowers that bloom here. It's my favorite place…" The golden-eyed boy smiled softly as he closed his eyes, "I can see why. It's so peaceful here…" For the first time in years, the emotional turmoil inside of him had faded almost entirely away; he felt calm inside. 'I have to come back here,' the Darkness wielder decided as he sighed contentedly, 'once I learn how to access the Dark Corridors… Then I can spend as much time as I want…enjoying the serenity…' "Uh, Vanitas," Roxas poked his friend in the shoulder, "You still with us?" "Hm," the older boy mumbled, "Yeah… I just…haven't felt this calm…ever in my life… It's nice…" Namine gave him a concerned look, "Never?" The dark-haired boy shook his head silently as he leaned against a nearby tree. The girl bit her lip, "Roxas and I can handle the collection here. You can just relax here, okay?" "Sounds good," the taller boy murmured faintly as he just soaked in the peace and quiet. The two blondes moved further into the meadow leaving their older companion to his moment of sheer bliss. "I've never seen him so relaxed," the blonde boy admitted as they wandered the meadow looking for the plants his female companion had briefly described. The girl frowned, "He must be under a lot of stress then." "More like he's constantly on guard," the boy clarified, "I can kind of understand why considering what he's been through, but he's gonna drive himself mad if he doesn't relax like this more often." He sighed in frustration as he plucked an eyebright plant and handed it to Namine. "Honestly, I'm kind of worried," the blue-eyed boy muttered, "He's a good friend…but he keeps _way_ too many secrets. He should be able to let his guard down around us, but…he won't…or can't… I'm not really sure which." The blonde girl gave her male companion a curious look, "Us?" "Our other friends," Roxas clarified, "Plus his younger brother and my twin. We're all pretty close…but he's still holding something back. I know it."

The two worked in silence for a bit longer before Namine turned to the boy next to her with an inquisitive look on her face. "What's it like," she asked. Roxas was confused by the question, "What's what like?" "Having friends," the girl clarified wistfully, "I spend so much time studying under my master and practicing my skills that I've never had time to make any…but I've always wondered what it's like…" The blonde boy gaped in shock, "You've…never had friends?" "Mm-mm," she shook her head, "So what's it like?" The boy blinked, "Um, it's kind of hard to explain…" He paused and thought hard for a moment before he started to speak slowly, "I guess…it's kind of like being in a family. You can always trust that they'll be there for you. You may tease each other sometimes, argue sometimes, and occasionally question their sanity, but…you wouldn't trade them for the world. You miss them when they're gone, and when you're all together you just feel so happy and content… Because you are with people who accept you for who you are. It's loving and being loved back. I…really don't know how else to put it other than…it's just…the best feeling ever…" Roxas trailed off awkwardly as he started to flush in embarrassment, "Gah, I sound so cheesy…" "I think it sounds wonderful," Namine smiled sadly. "Is," the boy started before pausing then continuing nervously, "is your apprenticeship fun, at least?" The girl laughed lightly, "Sometimes. I really like mixing remedies and learning new spells. My master says I have a natural talent for white magic, so it really comes easily to me. I like learning about different plants and herbs and how to use them to help people feel better. I like making people's pain go away. I like when my master praises me for a job well done…which is pretty often now that I think about it. I still have a lot to learn, but I don't feel discouraged at all with her teaching me. On the other hand, I don't like seeing people hurt or sick. It makes me sad. I also don't like it when we can't save a patient. That hurts a lot… Fortunately, my master is skilled enough that that doesn't happen often." Roxas hummed thoughtfully before he commented, "It certainly sounds interesting, but I imagine it requires a lot of patience." "It really does," Namine admitted, "Especially when you're mixing remedies. You have to get the right amount of each ingredient and mix them _just right_ otherwise it won't work. It takes a lot of time and practice. I can really only do the simple ones at the moment. Still, I used to mess up a lot more than I do now. It did take me five years to get that good, though." The boy thought for a bit before he laughed lightly, "I could never do it. I'd probably get frustrated and lose my temper. It's a bit of a problem." The girl smiled back, and the two took a break from their conversation as they continued collecting plants.

"So what do you do for fun," the girl asked curiously after a while. "I hang out with my friends," Roxas grinned as he handed her another plant, "We do all sorts of things. We talk, we play games, we study together, and sometimes we get to train!" "Train," Namine wondered as she placed it into one of her jars. "Captain Shimomura gives us all informal lessons in sword-play. I'm already close in skill to both Riku _and_ Vanitas! They're the best out of all of us, and I've only been attending lessons for about a year now," the boy's face lit up with pride, "Sora and Kairi are both really good too. So is Ven though he needs to stop spacing out during training. We might start learning hand-to-hand next year, though. The Captain is running out of things to teach us in regards to sword-play, but we don't want the lessons to stop. He's having to get creative. Last time we spent half the session on tactics which made Ven and Sora both doze off. I thought it was pretty interesting…" He trailed off as he realized Namine's eyes were glazing over as she collected herbs. "Sorry," he apologized sheepishly, "I just really like learning how to fight." "I…," The girl managed slowly as her brain tuned back in, "don't like hurting people." "Neither do I really," Roxas admitted, "I'm learning to fight so I can defend the people I care about, though. So that they _don't_ get hurt. Yeah, it means I might have to use my skills to hurt other people, but…if it keeps the people most important to me safe…" "You're a protector," she smiled at the boy as she packed away the jar she'd been filling, "That's not a bad thing. I just don't think _I'm_ cut out for it." "Nothing wrong with that," he grinned back, "I'm not cut out to be a healer, and you're not cut out to be a fighter. Doesn't mean we don't have something in common, though." "Oh," Namine's eyes danced, "And what's that?" "Neither of us," Roxas said firmly, "likes to see other people suffer. We want to make their pain go away. We just go about it differently." "I use magic and medicine to heal people," the girl mused, "but how do you do it?" "By listening," the boy replied calmly, "and by caring. Though to be fair, I've got nothing on Sora. That guy is nice to _everybody_. I try, but I have a hard time putting up with close-minded, prejudicial idiots. They make me snippy…" The blonde girl shook her head and laughed, "Well, nobody's perfect. Honestly, there are some people who come in that I have a hard time dealing with myself. It probably sounds terrible for someone training to be a healer to say this, but…there is a certain type of self-inflicted injury whose victims _kind of_ deserve it. Warning labels are there for a _reason_." "Dare I ask," Roxas wondered. "Most recent was a guy who glued his nostrils shut," Namine admitted, "I had to leave the room. One of the first lessons I learned as a healer is that some people are incredibly lucky to have survived to adulthood without being killed by their own stupidity. He was one of them." The two blondes finally collected the last of the plants the apprentice needed, and smiled at each other in their success.

They continued chatting idly as they headed back towards where they left Vanitas. Namine had just asked Roxas how often he and his friends suffered training accidents. "Mostly its Riku and Vanitas who end up being injured," the blonde sighed, "and that's because their rivalry makes them get a bit carried away. Don't get me wrong. Outside of training they're the best of friends, but when they are involved in anything even the least bit competitive… They turn vicious. Fortunately, they're only like that with each other. They dial it back a lot when they spar with anyone else. Worst _we_ normally suffer are bruises." "And them," the girl queried. "Fractures," the blue-eyed boy deadpanned, "Lots of fractures. And a few concussions. And one nasty cut after a training sword broke and became a high speed missile. All I have to say to that last one is that it's a good thing Vanitas has fast reflexes. If that wooden shard had scored a direct hit…he might not be alive." "Where'd it hit," she wondered. "Clipped his neck," Roxas replied, "Missed the major vein, but it still bled a _lot_. He was more annoyed than panicked. Spent the entire time waiting for Baba swearing under his breath and grumbling about how sick he was of seeing his own blood. She scolded him pretty heavily for being too aggressive while fighting. He defended that it was a freak accident, which it kind of was, and that his fighting style had nothing to do with it." "Most people wouldn't be so calm with an injury like that," Namine marveled. "Yeah, well, Vanitas' attitude towards injury at this point is that he doesn't care all that much," the boy sighed, "Considering what I know of his history…I can kind of see why." She shot the boy walking with her an incredulous look, "What sort of history could lead a person to treat severe injuries as nothing major." "Long term physical and emotional abuse," another voice interrupted flatly. The blondes looked around and realized that Vanitas had abandoned his tree for a mattress of soft grass where he'd been dozing until they walked by. Golden eyes glinted as they observed the two blondes before the boy they belonged to stretched and sat up. "So I take it you got everything," he asked with a raised eyebrow. Namine was clearly in shock before she managed a response, "Um…yes. You were abused?" "Up until I was eight, yeah," the black-haired boy replied as he stood up before he tilted his head to his side, "Wish it hadn't ended the way it did. Sure, I'm not being abused anymore, but being orphaned isn't much better in my opinion. Guilt, grief, and all that… Also, I nearly died. That kind of sucked."

Namine stared at the older boy in disbelief at how casually he was treating about his near death. "How…are you so calm about that," she managed. Vanitas shrugged and looked up at the sky, "Wasn't the first time Akira tried to kill me. The attempts were pretty regular after I turned five. I kind of accepted that I was going to die when I was six and he tried drowning me. He blew _that_ attempt by attacking Sora when the kid flipped out on him for what he was doing. Ended with me crushing his wrist in one hand and promising that, if he ever tried to hurt Sora again, I would kill him. Which I ultimately ended up being forced to keep when I was eight. Not…entirely happy about that…" "Wait," the girl blanched, "You…actually…killed someone?" "It was either I killed him or he'd kill Sora and go back to finishing me off before he killed himself," Vanitas stated tonelessly as he drew his gaze back downward, "There _was_ no right choice, so I went with the one that meant my little brother survived. My memory after that is a bit hazy. I think that's about when I started dying. Mostly I remember pain. A lot of pain. And not getting enough air. Still not sure why I survived. I should have died." The older boy's expression was utterly flat and emotionless as he spoke. "When…was this," Namine managed finally. The dark-haired boy's eyes closed, "Two years, three months, and twelve days ago. The day Sora and I...lost our family to a mad-man…" "He was also their fath-," Roxas attempted before he was silenced by a menacing glare from his older friend. "If people don't stop," he growled, "calling Akira my father…I will fucking lose it…" "But he was," the younger boy pointed out, "Biologically. She has no idea who Akira is, anyways. I was trying to clear things up for her." Vanitas just growled again and gritted his teeth as he fought his hatred back down. As the two boys had their exchange, the blonde girl was biting her lip as she did the math over the dates before her eyes widened. "Oh Light," she breathed, "That day… I remember that day!" Both boys snapped their attention over to their female companion. "What," the blonde boy wondered, "do you mean by that?" "That was the day Captain Shimomura brought in a dying boy," Namine explained, "It took my master and I _two hours_ to bring him back from the brink. I never knew his name or how he had gotten into that condition. I'd always wondered. But now…if that was the same day…and you say you nearly died," she glanced at the wide-eyed Vanitas before continuing, "It was you, wasn't it? You were the boy I helped save!" The dark-haired boy nodded slowly, "It makes sense. You've felt familiar to me since this morning, and it's been bugging me all day. But if you really had a hand in bringing me back…then maybe…"

Vanitas trailed off as his brow furrowed in thought before he spoke again, "Sora tried using the link between our Hearts to anchor me. He's admitted as much. But he couldn't pull me back… If that wasn't enough…then… What…exactly did you guys do back then? In detail." "It was mostly basic surgery," the blonde girl admitted, "At least at first. But you kept slipping away. My master had me start channeling as much curative magic as I could into you in order to buy time to finish putting your ribs back together and closing the holes in your lung. I put my whole Heart into it, and after a while I started feeling a tugging sensation and then everything sort of blacked out. When my vision came back, my master was closing the incision she'd made to get at your ribs and you seemed stable. Then I headed out back to clean up the instruments we used, and I kind of missed everything after that." Vanitas sighed and rubbed his forehead, "I think the tugging was Sora. He's pretty in tune with that sort of thing. I have a pretty good idea as to what he did. You said you put your whole Heart into using your magic?" Namine nodded, "I don't like it when we lose patients, so I always put everything I have into trying to help them." The older boy nodded thoughtfully, "That may have put your Heart into close contact with mine. Sora probably instinctively latched onto it and tied us all together so that the shared strength of your Hearts could pull me back. Once I wasn't dying anymore he would have stopped concentrating on maintaining the connection and the link would have faded. Only I think the link left an imprint on our Hearts. _That's_ why you feel familiar to me. My Heart recognizes the presence of one of the people who saved it from fading…" He trailed off and started chewing his lip uneasily, as though he wasn't sure how he felt about having _another_ person he was linked too, but the blonde girl was still confused. "I'm not sure I get this," she admitted, "What _is_ this link you are talking about? I've never heard of anything like it before." "Vanitas and his little brother have an empathic link between their Hearts that runs both ways," Roxas replied, "They pretty much always know what the other is feeling." "I kind of miss at least having the _illusion_ of privacy," Vanitas groaned in annoyance, "I suppose it _was_ actually useful at one point, but now it's more of a pain than anything. Sora pays _way_ too much attention to how I'm feeling and starts to worry the very _second_ my mood takes a dive. I'm not _that_ unstable." The ten-year old shook his head and started heading over to where he'd left his bundles, "We should probably head back. I think the plants are starting to get a bit wilted, and that's probably not good." Namine gasped and placed her hands up to her mouth as her eyes-widened, "Ah! You're right! We have to hurry back! Let's go!" She slung her pack over her shoulders and waited for the dark-haired boy to set his bundles back into place. The trio then headed back towards the village in relative silence.

Namine was contemplating both boys she'd spent the morning with. Vanitas was certainly interesting, and she was elated to finally have met the boy she'd helped save two years prior. She was a bit unnerved to learn that he had deliberately taken a life, but when she'd learned a bit of the context – namely that it was an act of desperation to save someone _else's_ life – she decided she wouldn't hold it against him. She knew she didn't have the whole story, but the little that she did have honestly made her a bit concerned for the older boy. It wasn't _right_ for someone to be so casual about death and injury, and the fact that he had been abused badly enough that he accepted death as a fact honestly horrified her. He seemed to be handling it well enough on the surface, but the apprentice healer had her doubts that he was doing as well as he appeared. It wasn't anything she was seeing that made her suspicious; it was really only a feeling, but Namine trusted her instincts. As a healer, one of the first things you learn is that just because you can't _see_ anything wrong doesn't mean that there _isn't_ something wrong. You couldn't see most cancers, after all; you had to look _really_ closely and do a lot of tests. The blonde girl's healer's instincts were currently screaming at her that Vanitas was _not_ as comfortable with his past as he appeared, and so she worried. Her thoughts then drifted over to Roxas; she liked the blonde boy. She found him really easy to talk to. He was funny, smart, and she felt comfortable around him. She thought back to his little speech about friendship and decided that she'd like to have friends herself one day. Maybe _he'd_ be willing to be her friend; that would make her really happy. They already had one thing in common: they both hated seeing other people in pain. He was also open about his flaws which was a trait she found admirable. Namine just plain liked him; a lot. 'He makes me feel safe,' she realized as she glanced at him. The boy was chatting with his older friend about the upcoming school year, and it seemed they were both excited because they were gesturing animatedly as they talked. The girl couldn't help the soft smile that spread across her face; they were clearly close. She found it hard to believe they had only been friends for a single year because they acted as if they had known each other for much longer. She wondered if she would ever know what that was like. The healer's apprentice shifted the pack on her back a bit which drew Roxas' attention. "It isn't too heavy, is it," he inquired concernedly. "It's fine," Namine replied with a smile, "I just needed to adjust it a bit. It felt weird." The boy returned her smile with a look of relief before he returned to his conversation. 'I don't want this to end,' the girl admitted to herself as they drew near to the forest's edge, 'I like spending time with these boys… I want to…be friends…but how can I ask that? We've only known each other for a single morning…'

Namine was slightly saddened when they reached the town gates. "Well," she smiled weakly, "I guess I should get back to my master now. Thank you for the help." The two boys glanced at each other and seemed to be having a silent conversation before Roxas took a deep breath and met her eyes. "You're welcome, but… I was wondering…do you think you could ask your master for an afternoon off," he asked. The healer's apprentice's eyes widened in surprise and confusion as she looked between her male companions. "Um, I guess so," she admitted, "But why?" "I was just thinking," the other blonde scratched his head nervously, "Maybe…maybe you could hang out with us and the rest of our group. You know…as friends…" The blonde girl gaped in open amazement, "You…you want me as a friend?" Vanitas grinned, "He wouldn't have offered if we didn't. So what do you say?" He watched closely as a torrent of emotions flashed across the girl's face; disbelief, uncertainty, fear, hope, and finally blinding happiness. "Of course," blue-eyes sparkled with joy, "I've…I've never had a friend before…and now… Oh, yes! Yes, I'd love to be friends with you both!" Roxas laughed happily, "That's great! I'll wait here for you, okay? You go ask permission." Namine nodded eagerly and took the bundles from the blonde boy's harness into her arms before eyeing the bundles of devil's club warily. "I'm not sure I can carry those…," she admitted. "I'll ask Hiroshi to drop them off," the dark-haired boy offered with a slight smirk, "He'd probably love the excuse to get out of the house and away from my brother and Ven." She gave the older boy a puzzled look before he clarified, "Hiroshi is the Shimomuras' butler, and often finds himself getting roped into keeping an eye on Sora. While my brother's calmed down a bit recently…him plus Roxas' twin tend to drive the poor man up a wall. I like the guy, so I try to give him as many escapes from their combined energy as I can." Namine smiled in understanding, "That's very nice of you. Okay, I'll let my master know he's coming. I'll see you soon!" The blonde healer's apprentice then turned and jogged through town with a bright grin on her face. She just couldn't believe it; they boys she'd only just realized she enjoyed being around wanted to be friends with her!

The young apprentice knocked on the door to the hut before opening it and walking in. "Master," she called, "I'm back!" "In the back, dear," her mentor's voice sounded. Namine headed for the back room where the elderly healer was already sorting through the plants _she'd_ gathered and placed both pack and bundles on the ground. The blonde girl took a deep breath, mustered up her courage, and spoke hesitantly, "Master, can I ask you something?" "Of course, Namine," the old woman turned and smiled at her apprentice, "What is it?" "Is it alright if I take the afternoon off," the girl asked nervously, "Those boys we ran into this morning…they helped me gather these…and when we got back….they offered to let me hang out with them… So…um…can I?" Baba beamed at the young girl, "I was wondering how you'd finished so fast. Of course, you may spend the rest of the day with your new friends. I think you'll fit in quite well with their bunch. They are all such nice children…" Namine's face brightened, "Oh, thank you, master! Thank you. Oh, um, Vanitas said he'll have Hiroshi bring over the devil's club later. I couldn't carry it all…" "That's fine," the old woman stated with a thoughtful look on his face, "I need to give the man his next packet of chamomile anyways. Poor man is always so stressed these days…" The healer's apprentice giggled slightly before bowing formally to her master and hurrying back to where she'd left her new friends. Baba chuckled lightly and smiled as she watched the girl leave. "It's good that she's getting out and meeting people," the healer murmured as she went back to work, "She spends far too much time studying and nowhere near enough just being a little girl. She needs this… Thank you, Vanitas, for giving my young apprentice this chance."

Namine arrived back at the village gates where she was surprised to find Roxas waiting alone. "Vanitas decided to go on ahead and let the others know you were coming," he explained, "Also he wanted to drop of the bundles with Mr. Sato and give him the chance to get out of the house as soon as possible." The blonde girl nodded in understanding before the two children headed down the street towards the Shimomuras. The closer they got to their destination, though, the more nervous the healer's apprentice became. Her new friend noticed her growing anxiety and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong," he asked caringly. "I'm worried," the girl admitted, "What if your friends don't like me?" "Trust me," the boy laughed lightly, "You have nothing to worry about there. Remember what I said about Sora earlier? He likes _everyone_. My twin is pretty similar, and so is Kairi. As for Riku, he's pretty accepting. I mean, he's been friends with Vanitas and Sora since they were little! Seriously, it'll be fine." Namine relaxed slightly at this, but still felt a fair amount of anxiety. The two blondes soon arrived at the Shimomura residence and knocked on the door. It was answered by a pale, disinterested looking young woman wearing a lot of dark make-up, "Oh. Hey, Roxas." "Hey, Yuki," Roxas greeted back, "This is Namine. She's my new friend. She's going to be hanging out with us today." "Cool," the gothic maid replied with a grin, "The others are out in the courtyard waiting. The boss man will be down in about a half an hour so you've all got time to get acquainted. Have fun!" The two nine-year olds walked inside and made their way through the house to the courtyard. The blonde boy held the door open for her and grinned, "Ladies first." Namine smiled back weakly and walked through the door. She was promptly caught off guard by two high-speed human missiles who tackle hugged her. The startled girl yelped, fell over, and looked up at the two kids who were grinning down at her. "Hi," the first, a brunette boy with blue eyes, greeted cheerfully, "I'm Sora Yagami! Nice to meet you!" "And I'm Kairi Uchida," the red-haired girl with blue-violet eyes followed up, "It's nice to finally have another girl in the group." Kairi then reached down and helped the stunned blonde to her feet as two other boys walked over; one had silver-hair and sharp aquamarine eyes while the other looked identical to Roxas aside from his outfit. The Roxas copy beamed cheerfully at the new girl, "Hey. I'm Ventus Harris. Roxas' twin brother. He's older than me by about five minutes as he _loves_ to keep pointing out." "Older sibling's privilege," both Roxas and Vanitas chorused smugly. The tall silver-haired boy simply shook his head and offered a friendly smile, "Riku Shimomura. Nice to meet you." The healer's apprentice smiled back at all of them shyly, "I'm Namine Uchiyama… I'm studying to be a healer. Nice to meet all of you , too."

Namine spent the entire afternoon hanging out with the other six children and was honestly taken aback by how welcoming they all were. They spent the first half-hour sharing their likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future; some, like her own, were no-brainers. She wanted to be a healer. Others were more surprising; Riku wanted to join the Royal Guard one day, Kairi wanted to be an artist, and Vanitas simply wanted to live passed age thirty. She was a bit concerned by that, but Captain Shimomura arrived before she could figure out how to ask him about it. The healer's apprentice offered to take care of any injuries suffered during sparring which the silver-haired man accepted gratefully. He made the offhand comment that having _someone_ on hand to put his son and god-son back together after they finished trying to kill each other was a blessing. This, of course, prompted both Riku and Vanitas to protest vocally that they were _not_ that bad…and then went on to give each other fractured wrists during their match. She was a bit startled by how viciously they fought, but was even more surprised by how casually they treated the match afterwards. They'd each complement the other on technique and lightly rib each other about how 'it wouldn't be so easy next time'. After training the two older boys disappeared upstairs with Mrs. Shimomura for their lesson. The other kids remained in the courtyard and speculated about what these lessons might be…with the exception of Sora who clearly knew _exactly_ what went on. Ventus kept prodding the brunette to share what he knew, but the other boy refused to open up. "It's a secret," he kept saying, "If they ever want you to know they'll tell you." Namine noticed that the bonds between the two older boys and the brunette were very strong; stronger than his bonds with the other kids and commented on it. "Well, yeah," the brown-haired boy grinned, "Vanitas is my older brother, and Riku's been our best friend pretty much since we were two. Guess who he was friends with first." "Vanitas," the blonde girl responded with a weird look since it was an obvious answer. "Yep," Sora's grin widened, "I was too young to do much when they were first introduced, so I had to wait a year." The conversation drifted to speculation about the upcoming school year. The twins kept dropping hints that their father had an amazing curriculum planned; much more in depth than the one he'd had last year. When they were prodded for more details all they did was grin and respond in unison, "You'll have to wait and see…but it is going to be _awesome_!"

The two older boys returned after about three hours and the reunited group decided to play blind man's bluff. Vanitas produced a strip of cloth they could use as a blindfold and volunteered to be 'it' first. His brother promptly snatched the cloth away from him and tied it around his own eyes as he muttered about how the older boy had an unfair advantage. The response was a shrug and a bland, "Not like it has an off switch." The only other person who had any idea what that was about was Riku, and all he did was roll his eyes. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing. Sora made sure that the two older boys were _never_ 'it' which they took in stride. Finally, it was time for them all to go home. Namine stood off to the side as the other kids bid each other farewell and had to admit that she had had a lot of fun. She was startled, though, when the black-haired boy slid up behind her and spoke. "So," he grinned faintly, "Did you have a good day?" "I did," the apprentice healer smiled back, "It was the most fun I have ever had." The older boy nodded before he glanced at her and asked, "Think you'd like to come back again?" The blonde girl thought for a bit before she made up her mind. "I would," she pronounced. "We meet up pretty much every day during the summer," Vanitas stated casually, "We usually only have weekends free during the school-year though. Unless we're doing a study group, but we mostly just cover schoolwork then. Those are group hang outs. Sometimes just a few of us hang out together, though. Usually it's just two or three of us. Sora, Riku, and Kairi hang out a lot. So do Riku, Roxas, and I. Ventus and Sora are also a duo. Anyways, what I'm getting at is you're free to hang out with any of us whenever we have the time. Just call us." "It's really okay," Namine wondered. Gold eyes met blue as the boy smiled softly and held out a hand, "We're friends, aren't we?" Blue-eyes welled up with happy tears as the girl took the proffered hand and grasped it tightly, "Yes…I suppose we are. I have friends now…" "Welcome to the group, Namine," the older boy smiled kindly. The healer's apprentice laughed and launched forward in a hug which was gently returned by her older friend. This was easily the best day of her life.

 **A/N:** And that's Namine's introduction out of the way. Vanitas kept trying to take over this chapter while I was writing; seriously, he writes himself more often than not and _keeps getting away from me_. None of the other characters are doing that! They're being nice and cooperative. Well, except for Roxas when he was explaining what having friends was like, but I actually appreciated that contribution. Stupid Vanitas…I swear he _knows_ he's the main character and is trying to take advantage of it. I…kind of talk to the characters I'm working with in my head as I write. We get into dialogues about what's going on currently, what's coming next, and other story related things. Consciously, I know it's just my imagination I'm talking to…but it's kind of creepy with how good my imagination is at being in character. Yipe… So about the plants I used in this chapter; they are all real life plants with medicinal uses. I have books that I reference for things like this. The ones I listed all have numerous applications, but the one that is probably most recognizable is willow bark: a natural source of salicin. Salicin is the base of salicylic acid which is what is used to make Asprin (I think). It's kind of interesting all the things these plants were once used for; I'm not going to list it here because it would take up _way_ too much room. If you really want to know then you can either PM me or look it up for yourselves. Either in a library or on the internet, you will find the knowledge you seek if only you take the time to look for it. So next chapter is going to be me developing some of the other characters a bit more; specifically Kairi. She's a main character and I've barely spend any time on her. This will be rectified. See you next time, then!


	14. The Mayor's Daughter

**A/N:** As I mentioned last time, this chapter we are going to be focusing mostly on Kairi. There is going to be a bit of Riku and Sora development as well because, even reincarnated, I cannot bring myself to believe that they wouldn't be a trio of best friends again. They just click together. However, due to the fact that they are _not_ their original selves…the dynamic will be slightly different; mostly because the female member of the trio is more of a fighter this time around. In the games, she has been, and I do not mean this in a bad way, kind of damsel in distress; I put this down to her being a typical 14 year old girl with no prior fighting experience. Even considering that her original home was destroyed by the Heartless when she was five…she was freakin' _five_. She'd have been traumatized by that, so when the Heartless appear again in the first game...I'm pretty sure her initial response would have been to run and hide. Also, she spends most of the first game as a vegetable, so she really can't help the 'damsel-in-distress' thing; you can't save yourself when you are an empty husk lacking all free will…not to mention the ability to move on your own. As for KH2, she actually does a pretty good job avoiding getting captured for a while. Yes, she does end up in the Organization's clutches, and is ultimately rescued by Namine. Still, we get a hint of her inner toughness in the events that proceed after that point; there's a strong female character in there just waiting to be expressed. Sorry for the mini-rant; I just felt like sharing my thoughts on the matter. I mentioned back in chapter three when I first introduced her that this version of Kairi was going to be kind of a badass. I'm thinking I should change that term from badass to 'female character who can hold her own when the going gets tough'. We are going to start seeing some of that in this chapter. Admittedly, she is still a kid, but the character traits that will come in to play in later books will _at least_ be hinted at. I'm realizing that, by making this a five book series, I can spread out character development a bit. That being said, if you haven't noticed it by now, this book is mostly focused on Vanitas' character development. He's the main character; his backstory not only is the core of his motivations, but also motivates the rest of his friends to a point. You'll see what I mean after climax number two… Now let's get the ball rolling, shall we?

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 13: The Mayor's Daughter

Kairi sighed as she glanced over at the calendar hanging on her wall; it was the last week of summer break and, in her opinion, it was dragging on forever. Roxas and Ventus had been dropping hints the entire month about how amazing the material their father had put together for the upcoming school year was. The anticipation was _killing_ her, and she could hardly wait for school to start. She wasn't the only one; Vanitas and Riku were also impatient for summer break to end. Admittedly, the black-haired boy wasn't so much interested in finding out what their teacher had planned as he was just ready for the break to be over. 'Van sure likes to learn,' the red-head mused as she flopped back on her bed with a grin, 'He's like a glutton for knowledge… It sure makes school interesting, that's for sure.' The nine-year old girl was of the opinion that, ever since the older Yagami had started attending, there hadn't been a single boring day of class. His frequent questions during lectures had ended up turning their lessons down some interesting paths; she was sure Mr. Harris would have never covered half the topics they did last year otherwise. Kairi stretched her hands up over her head and sprawled out over her mattress as she considered her friends. She was closest with Sora, Riku, and Vanitas simply by virtue of knowing them the longest. However, she found she 'clicked' the best with the younger Yagami brother and his silver-haired best friend; that being said, she really enjoyed the company of her other friends as well. The Harris twins were just plain fun to be around; Ventus slightly more-so than his older twin. The energetic blond actually reminded her of her brunette best friend in how happy-go-lucky he could be. Roxas was a nice guy, but she was inclined to agree with his younger twin in that he was _way_ too quiet; well, except for when he and Vanitas were together. Those two seemed to relate to each other surprisingly well. Kairi smirked as she remembered how the dark-haired boy had been so reluctant to have anything to do with _either_ twin when they first arrived in Unmei; she'd had a field day when she found out that he'd asked the older twin to be his friend of his own volition. She had _so_ told him he'd like the older blonde! Finally, she considered the newest member of their group: Namine. Truth be told, she really enjoyed the young healer's company. The two of them clicked about as well as the red-head and her two boys did; the blonde girl was her best female friend in spite of the fact that they'd only really known each other for a few weeks.

Kairi was snapped out of her reverie by a knock on her bedroom door. She stretched, got up, headed for the door, and opened it. She tilted her head to the side inquisitively as she beheld one of her family's maids waiting on the other side. The young woman smiled politely and bowed, "You have a phone call, Miss Kairi." The red-head sighed in embarrassment, "Just Kairi is fine…uh… Mari, right?" The maid nodded in the affirmative and the nine-year old continued curiously, "Do you know who is calling?" The young woman nodded again, "I believe it was Madame Kadowaki's apprentice." The girl squealed happily, "Namine!" She thanked the maid for letting her know about the call and ran down to the first floor parlor. While the nearest phone was technically in her parents' room, the young girl knew that it was reserved for her father's personal use and was off limits to anyone else. That left the parlor phone as the next closest. It didn't even take her a minute to reach the table it rested on and snatch up the receiver. "Hi, Namine," Kairi chirped cheerfully. "Hello, Kairi," the other girl's soft voice greeted, "How are you?" "I'm good," the red-head replied, "What's up?" "Sora asked me to call you," the young healer confessed quietly, "He's apparently arranging a 'last week of freedom' party. He wants to know if you're interested in going." "Sure," the mayor's daughter responded, "That sounds like fun. When is it going to be?" "I don't think he knows yet," Namine admitted with a slight laugh, "He mostly seems to be trying to work out who is interested and who isn't before he gets to that point." The red-head chuckled in amusement, "Typical Sora. You realize that he only _has_ a week to work it all out, right? Chances are Riku and I are going to have to pitch in and help." The apprentice healer giggled, "Well, you _are_ the last person he had to check in with. He might make it on his own." "Namine," Kairi deadpanned, "we're talking about the boy who still isn't allowed to walk to school alone because of how easily distracted he is. Sora's completely hopeless when it comes to staying focused. That's why he has Riku and I. We keep him on task." "What about Vanitas," Namine wondered curiously, "Doesn't he help his brother out sometimes?"

"Yeah, _sometimes_ ," they mayor's daughter huffed in annoyance, "When he isn't too busy being amused by Sora's flailing. He pretty much only gets involved when the situation is serious these days. You know, like if Sora being distracted could lead to him being injured or something. I don't know what is up with him. He used to be crazy over-protective of his little brother, but now… I dunno. I just don't get that guy." The other girl hummed thoughtfully before she offered her suggestion, "Maybe he thinks that by hovering so much when they were younger contributed to his brother's inability to stay focused and is trying to correct that by drawing back a bit. You know, by letting Sora do certain things on his own without guidance and allowing him to learn from his mistakes. At least when those mistakes are harmless." "Huh," the red-head mused, "I guess that makes sense. How'd you work it out, though?" "Baba's been teaching me about treating mental and emotional problems," the young healer admitted, "One of the things she covered was the problems that can arise when a patient's family is too smothering and how they might be corrected. Sometimes people will just get so used to relying on other people to do certain things for them that they never learn how to do them for themselves." "Whoa… Now that I think about it, Vanitas did tend to correct Sora almost constantly when they were younger," Kairi admitted with a frown, "You think the reason Sora is so easily distracted is because he got too used to his older brother keeping him on task to learn how to keep focused on his own?" "It's possible," Namine stated calmly, "or he could have a form of Attention Deficit Disorder. It's hard to say, really." The two girls conversation gradually shifted to what the young healer was learning in her apprenticeship and then on to other topics. The red-head was honestly fascinated by what her blonde friend was learning in her lessons and had a ton of questions. She mentioned that she might be interested in learning a bit about treating injuries herself one of these days. "With the way the boys keep injuring themselves while sparring the knowledge could come in handy," she sighed, "Besides it isn't fair for you to be the one to treat them _every_ time." "I don't mind," the blonde girl replied, "It's good practice." They spent a couple of hours conversing over the phone before the apprentice healer had to return to her lessons; she did promise to call Sora back and let him know the red-head was willing to attend the party he was planning first, though. Neither girl was aware that they had had an eavesdropper listening in on most of their conversation with a light smile on her face: Kairi's mother.

Kasumi Uchida was widely regarded by the villagers to be a bit of an airheaded bimbo; to be fair, the woman didn't do much to dispel this opinion. She was largely ruled by her emotions and passions without giving much consideration to intellectual matters. That being said, she was far from being stupid. For all her apparent flightiness and frivolity, she had a sharp mind for numbers and a natural flair for organization. She was deeply in love with her husband and unconditionally adored her daughter even if she had a hard time understanding – let alone accepting – her choice of friends. Most of them she approved of; Sora was an utter sweetheart, Riku was dashing and responsible, the Harris boys were well-behaved and intelligent, and Namine was the sole apprentice of the village healer. As far as she was concerned, they were all good kids who were at risk of being led astray by the sole bad apple of the group: Vanitas. Kasumi didn't hate the boy as some of the other villagers – and her husband – did, but she _was_ afraid of him. She'd heard all the rumors about the dark-haired boy. Some of them – most notably the one about him being able to consume souls – even she could dismiss as being completely ridiculous, but others were far too easy for her to believe. It was common knowledge that he'd killed his father after the man went insane, but the speculation about _why_ such a well-respected figure in the community had even lost his mind in the first place still had not died down. Nobody knew for sure, but the general consensus was that Vanitas was _somehow_ responsible. Akira had made sure to spread countless tales – all false – about how ill-tempered, disobedient, destructive, and manipulative his first-born was throughout the village before he died, and the villagers – having never met the boy themselves – took his words at face value. They had no reason not to. Akira Yagami had been the cousin of their Captain of the Watch, was known to be honest and fair in his business dealings, had been good-humored, and was generally well-liked. Kasumi, like most of the villagers, simply could not believe that such a seemingly well-adjusted individual could have snapped so violently without long term provocation and, lacking any other target, they blamed the son Akira had conditioned them to dislike. However, the red haired woman's feelings were less influenced by all the terrible things Akira had said about the boy, and more by the fact that something about him just made her uneasy. She wasn't sure what it was, but something about him just struck her as being terribly wrong. It wasn't just his unnerving eye color, his foul mouth, his disturbingly mature outlook, or his unusually developed physique for his age that set her off. It was something else… Something that couldn't be seen or otherwise observed; it was an aura of sorts. On some level, she instinctively recognized that he was far more dangerous than he appeared and that frightened her. As a mother, she wanted her daughter as far from this potential threat as possible…and yet the girl considered him a friend. She was honestly torn on how to deal with that problem.

Kasumi had been walking by the door when she heard her daughter on the phone and caught the name of the boy who frightened her so. Out of concern she stopped and listened in on the conversation and was relieved when the topic swiftly turned to how the healer girl, Namine, was progressing in her training. The woman continued listening as her daughter discussed not only her female friend's lessons but also the upcoming school year, her favorite subject in school, her study sessions with the rest of her friends, and why she was closest with Sora and Riku out of everyone. The red-haired woman was honestly relieved to learn that her daughter was more inclined to spend time with the Shimomura boy and younger Yagami than anyone else. The more time she spent with them, after all, meant she was spending _less_ time around Vanitas. Kasumi smiled softly as the conversation turned back to where it had started: the party Sora was planning. She really _did_ like the brown-haired Yagami boy, and was amused by her daughter's frustration at his poor approach to planning. The woman recognized that this was frustration borne out of genuine affection for the boy, and was curious to see how their relationship would develop once puberty hit. The fact was, she was convinced Kairi and the brunette Yagami would be the _cutest_ couple and had her fingers crossed that they'd fall for each other. 'They'd give me the most _adorable_ grandchildren,' the red-head mused happily as the conversation wrapped up, 'Though I suppose it is a _bit_ early to be thinking of that…' Kasumi quietly slipped away from the door as she heard her daughter making her goodbyes over the phone. She knew that the girl would be extremely ticked off to learn that her mother had been listening in, and would just as soon avoid an argument. 'Kairi really is turning into a strong-minded little thing, though,' the woman admitted to herself as she hurried up the stairs, 'I suppose it's a good thing she is so willing to stand up for herself… I just wish she was more discreet about it. It's unseemly for a lady to cause a scene in public, but she just doesn't seem to care about what people think about her. I must speak to her about that soon. She must learn that there is a time and a place for self-assertion. She'll get herself into trouble otherwise…' The mayor's wife was far from ignorant as to how firmly some of the villagers held on to their opinions, or how aggressive they could get when defending them. If Kairi got into an argument with the wrong person…she shuddered to think of what could happen to her dear little girl.

Kairi sighed as she hung up the phone; the more she thought about it the more she realized that Sora probably wasn't going to finish planning in time without help. She decided that she'd give him the rest of today to get as much as he could done on his own, and then tomorrow she'd call Riku up to check on his progress. She was hoping that her brown-haired friend would manage to surprise her, but would rather check just to make sure. If her concerns proved accurate she would recruit her silver-haired friend's assistance and head over herself to pitch in to putting the party together. Between the three of them, she was sure they could finish not only planning but also start getting things set up by the end of the day. "Sora really is hopeless without us, though," she murmured with a slight smile, "I think that is what I like the most about him…and what annoys me the most too." The red-head made her way back up the stairs and into her room. She figured she may as well get a head start working out what they'd need to throw a decent party even if she didn't know what exactly Sora had in mind. There was nothing wrong with being prepared. Besides, it wasn't as though she couldn't make changes later. Kairi just liked making plans, really. She was also considering asking Namine to teach her some basic first-aid the next time the two of them had a girls' day. She'd been serious about wanting to learn how to treat injuries. As much as she loved learning how to fight, she found that she honestly hated it when her friends got hurt. Originally her motivation had been that she just found sparring fun, and that she knew her parents wouldn't approve of their daughter learning to do something so un-ladylike. She may not have been aware of the saying 'the forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest', but that mindset had been behind her actions. Now, though, her motivations had changed. She wanted to learn to fight because then she could watch her friends' backs in combat. She could keep them safe while fighting alongside them. The red-head was coming to realize, though, that there was no guarantee that she could _prevent_ them from ever getting hurt. She couldn't be everywhere at once, and sometimes injuries happened. She now wanted to be able to do more than just watch their backs. That was the real reason she wanted to learn first-aid. So that she could fix the damage when one of them got hurt.

The rest of the day passed more or less uneventfully, and first thing the next morning she headed down to the parlor to call the Shimomuras. The phone rang twice before a casual female voice answered the phone, "Hey, you've reached the Shimomura house. The boss had to leave early for work today and Mika is currently helping Emiko with a crisis in the kitchen. If you're calling for either of them I can take a message. If you want one of the kids they're probably still asleep, so again. Message." "Hi, Yuki," Kairi laughed at the maid's delivery, "I'm starting to see why the Shimomuras try to keep you away from formal situations." "Hey, Kairi," the gothic maid replied cheerfully, "What can I say? I'm not a fan of formality. So what's up?" "I was hoping to ask Riku how much progress Sora's made on the party he was wanting to throw," the red-head responded, "Is he really still asleep?" "Think so," Yuki mused, "But never fear Red! I can answer that for you. The kid didn't really get much done. He was more focused on trying to convince his brother to join in, but Vanitas and I are gonna be working on advanced casting this week. He just doesn't have the time. Anyways, that debate of theirs took up several hours, and after he lost out Sora spent the rest of the day sulking. So that happened." The mayor's daughter sighed in exasperation, "Figures… Riku and I are gonna have to help out, aren't we?" "Probably," the maid laughed, "Guessing you're gonna be turning up later today?" "Yep," Kairi replied, "The sooner we get started planning the better." "I'll let Riku and Sora know once they wake up," the goth assured her, "Shouldn't be more than a few hours. Just head over at around ten or so, alright?" "Sounds good! Thanks, Yuki," the red head beamed even though the young woman couldn't see it. "No problem," Yuki chirped, "See ya later, Red!" "Later, Yuki," the nine-year old girl bid the maid farewell before hanging up. She then clapped her hands together and grinned, "Right. Now to just grab some breakfast, get dressed, and ask my parents if it's okay if I head over to the Shimomuras' for the day!" She headed into the dining room where she found the maids setting the table for breakfast. "Good morning, Fuyu! Hey, Keiko! What's for breakfast today," Kairi greeted them cheerfully. "Good morning, Miss Kairi," Fuyu replied, "I believe it's omelets and croissants today. It should be done in a minute or so." "Is it alright if I wait in here," the red-haired girl asked. The other maid, Keiko, replied with a kind smile, "Certainly, Miss. It's no trouble at all." All of the Uchidas' servants were quite fond of the girl; she treated them like family instead of mere employees as her parents did. They were aware of how the servants of the Shimomura family were treated by their employers, so it was no secret to them where she picked the habit up. Because of the adult Uchidas' insistence on formality they couldn't reciprocate her familiarity as much as they'd like. Still, every so often they could engage in semi-casual conversation when her parents were otherwise occupied. This was one of those times, and both parties took full advantage of it while they could.

Kairi asked her parents for permission to spend the day at the Shimomura house over breakfast. She made sure to clarify that she would be spending her time helping Sora and Riku plan a party for the rest of their friends. "So it'll just be the three of you today," her father inquired. "Probably," the nine-year old girl replied, "Apparently Vanitas is going to be working with Yuki on some tricky magic this week, so chances are we're not gonna see much of him." Kojiro shared a look with his wife before turning back to his daughter, "I see no problem with that. What's the occasion for this party anyways?" "Last week of freedom before school starts back up," the girl answered with a grin, "It was Sora's idea. I'm kind of excited for school to start, but he isn't so much. Still, it's an excuse to just have fun with my friends, so I'm not complaining." The mayor shook his head in nostalgic amusement, "No, I imagine you wouldn't. Heh, I remember when Ichiro tried the same thing when I was your age. You remember that party, right dear?" Kasumi frowned in thought for a moment before she brightened, "Ah! That was the time Touya pulled that prank with the turkey feathers on Kazu wasn't it? He still hasn't forgiven him for that…" "Which is probably why he sends Mrs. Nakanishi to the butchers every time they need meat," Mr. Uchida chuckled, "Who'd have thought such a scrawny fellow would grow up to be wall of muscle who wields a meat cleaver like a pro, eh?" His wife giggled while Kairi just tilted her head in confusion, "Mr. Shimomura pranked the butcher when you were kids? I didn't know he was a prankster." "He's mostly grown out of it," her mother shrugged, "but, yes, he and his cousins were quite the little mischief makers when they were kids." "So _that's_ where the boys get it," the girl mused, "Cool." She finished eating soon after that exchange, carried her dishes into the kitchen, and then headed up to her room to get dressed for the day.

As she picked out her outfit, the girl debated over whether she should bring any of her list making things with her that day. She was pretty sure the Shimomuras had stuff the three kids could use to record their plans, but she had _gel pens_. It was just so much more fun to use them for making lists and things than ordinary pens. She ultimately decided that she would bring the gel pens, the list she'd made the day before, and nothing else. Once she got her things together she still had an hour to kill, so she grabbed one of the books Roxas had ordered for her for her birthday. He'd learned she had a fondness for crafting things, and remembered a popular book series in the Core that covered various crafting traditions from across the continent. The older twin had saved several months' allowance to buy her the entire series, and she'd been so happy when she opened the wrapping that she'd tackle hugged him. The book she grabbed and started reading was on regional crafts in the Alliance of Seven Kingdoms. It included a brief history of each of the Kingdoms in the Alliance at the start of each section, and she found it fascinating. The hour passed quickly and it was soon time for her to head out. She grabbed the canvas bag she'd packed and ran down the stairs, out the door, and down the road.

Kairi beamed as Hiroshi opened the door soon after she'd knocked on it, "Good morning, Hiroshi!" "Good morning, Kairi," Mr. Sato smiled back, "The boys are still eating breakfast, so they'll be a while yet. You can start getting set up in the living room if you'd like while you wait." "Alright," the red-head nodded and headed in to unpack her bag. It didn't take her long, but then Yuki turned up with several notebooks, a white board, and some markers. "I figured you could use a few extra supplies," the maid explained with a grin, "The white board and markers are for brainstorming, and the notebooks are for writing down your final plans." "Thanks," the girl smiled back, "Could you help me get things set up?" "Sure," the gothic young woman replied, "I've got nothing better to do at the moment." The loli-goth focused on setting up the white board on its stand while Kairi arranged the notebooks on the table. "So what are you and Vanitas going to be working on this week," the red-head asked curiously. "Magnet, Reflect, and tier two elemental spells," Yuki replied, "We're also going to see if we can work out what it is about Cure spells that Vanitas keeps getting hung up on. Personally, I think it's because his talents are more suited to offensive spells than defensive, support, or curative spells. It's not uncommon. That's why the old classifications of Black Mage, White Mage, and Red Mage exist, after all." "So would that mean Namine is a White Mage," the girl wondered. "Kind of," the young woman shrugged, "White Mages typically know defensive and support spells on top of the healing spell tree. There _are_ sub-classifications of White Mage that specialize in specific branches, but they aren't true White Mages. There's Guardians who specialize in defensive spells, Enchanters who specialize in support spells, and Healers who specialize in healing spells. By that system, Namine is classified as a Healer."

"So what are you classified as," Kairi asked. "Straight up Mage," Yuki answered proudly, "I was taught offensive magic, defensive magic, support magic, healing magic, item enchantment, summoning, and so on. Basically I'm the magical equivalent of a jack-of-all-trades. Only because of the fact that I am technically a prodigy the whole 'master of none' thing doesn't really apply. I've mastered offensive, defensive, support, and item enchantment. I'd rate myself as being average at the rest, though. If I'd stayed home and continued my studies I could have probably become a Master Mage." "So why didn't you," the girl pressed. "Magic is kind of a tradition in my family," the maid explained, "and I went along with it when I was younger because I didn't know anything else. Then my parents brought me along on a trip to the Core when I was sixteen or so, and I learned there were other things I could do with my life. I decided my siblings could carry on the tradition, and I'd go off and find a new calling. I settled on being a maid because I've always been a bit of a neat freak. The rest is history." The red-head stared at the gothic young woman, "So basically you became a maid because you wanted to be different." "Pretty much, yeah," Yuki laughed. 'Should have expected that,' the nine-year old sighed as she finished organizing the materials, 'Yuki must just be one of those people who has to defy what people expect to be happy.'

Once everything was set up Yuki headed off to set things up for the lessons she ran leaving Kairi to wait on her own. It wasn't long before the three boys trailed in from the kitchen. Vanitas blinked in surprise to find the red-head sitting on the couch with a bunch of planning materials set up around her. "Do I even want to know," he asked drily. "Planning for the party Sora wants to have," the nine-year old girl replied. "Ah," the black-haired boy blinked again, "Have fun with that." He then continued across the living room and headed for the stairs. Sora beamed at his female friend, "Thanks for offering to help out. I kind of have no idea where to even begin with all this." "We noticed," the nine-year old girl and ten-year old boy deadpanned. Riku then continued, "I _did_ offer to help out yesterday, but you were too busy bugging Vanitas and sulking after he turned you down that final time." The brunette stuck his tongue out at his silver-haired friend before taking a seat next to Kairi on the couch. "So," he asked while deliberately ignoring his older friend, "Where do we start?" The red-head started outlining the steps she'd come up with the night before. First, she needed to know who all was coming, then they needed to work out when the party would be, next they needed to come up with activities and things, there was also decorations and food to be decided on, and finally they needed to decide how long the party would run. Sora, fortunately, remembered everyone who said they were interested in the party; the only one who _couldn't_ make it was Vanitas. The nine-year old girl wrote down all the attendees in one of the notebooks as her friend listed them off. She asked if they'd mentioned a time that worked best for them, and the younger Yagami sheepishly admitted that he _may_ have forgotten to ask. Riku and Kairi both sighed as they realized they'd probably be spending the next hour making phone calls. True they only had three people to call, but Ventus would most likely keep them tied up chatting for a while. Roxas had mostly given up on reigning in his younger twin's need to talk and considered the matter a lost cause. They couldn't count on help from that end. Furthermore, the red-haired girl was not willing to deal with the talkative blonde's wounded puppy look if she either hung up on him or told him she didn't have time to talk the next time they saw each other. It always made her feel like a terrible person afterwards. A secret fear of hers was that Sora would pick up Ven's 'look' as they spent more time hanging out. However, all of this was beside the point; they had phone calls to make and a party to plan.

Not for the first time, Riku was relieved that his parents had two phone lines hooked up. One his father had reserved for emergency calls that came in after-hours while the other was for everyday use. However, since the second phone line was for _after-hours_ emergencies that meant it could be used for whatever they wanted while he was at the office. He and his two friends made full use of that while they made their calls. The ten-year old was a bit annoyed that his female friend had left the phone calls to him and Sora while she recorded everything in yet another notebook. 'Why does she have so many,' he wondered as he finally finished talking with the Harris twins and hung up, 'One or two I could understand…but _eight_? Why would we need _eight_ notebooks?' Out loud he reported on the twins' replies on what time worked for them, "Roxas and Ventus are pretty much free whenever. I guess we're going to be counting on Namine's response to decide on a time." Kairi shrugged as she wrote down the twins' reply, "Not really. Remember, I have dancing lessons at three in the afternoon on Wednesdays during the summer. I'm usually done with them just in time to get washed up for dinner. That's going to limit our options on Wednesday to morning and early afternoon." Riku admitted that she had a point and the two waited for Sora to come back downstairs from his parents' room. "I wonder what's taking him so long," the red-head wondered aloud, "Namine isn't normally a big talker." "Sora can be pretty chatty though," the silver-haired boy pointed out, "More so when he's excited about something, and he's excited about this party…" The two kids sighed in exasperation as they realized they'd be waiting for a while. In hopes of at least making _some_ progress while they waited, the nine-year old girl brought out the list of decoration, food, and game ideas she'd made the night before and started going over it with her silver-haired friend. By the time their brown-haired friend returned a half-an-hour later they'd already nixed several items and relegated the rest as 'maybes'. "So Namine says she's free after three in the afternoon on Wednesday and two in the afternoon on Friday," he declared as he flopped on one of the chairs. There wasn't enough room left on the couch. "Well, that simplifies things," Riku smirked, "Since Kairi's tied up after three on Wednesdays that leaves only two on Friday available." "Oh yeah," Sora mused, "You have dance lessons on Wednesdays. Sweet! We have our day! But, man…that's kind of last minute isn't it?" Kairi looked up from recording Namine's answer and replied, "It gives us more time to get things ready, though. Besides, it's kind of fitting. We have our party to celebrate our last week of break at the end of the last week. Sort of a last big blow out before we have to get ready for school." The two boys agreed that her logic made a certain amount of sense before they moved on to the next step. The three kids spend several hours brainstorming ideas for party games, other entertainments, food choices, and how to decorate the house. They all agreed that the Shimomura house was probably the best suited for having a party for all their friends. "Besides," Sora grinned, "If we have it here maybe Vani will manage to finish his lessons before the party is over and join in for a bit." "Wishful thinking," Riku muttered with a smirk. "Well yeah," the brunette shrugged.

"So," Kairi declared as she slammed the last notebook she'd been writing in on the dining room table, "I think that's everything. We've got the games set. I still think the karaoke contest is a bit excessive, but it'll definitely be fun. We've got food worked out though we still need to ask Emiko and Mika if they're willing to help us out with getting it all ready. We can make the decorations easily enough. We might want to put that off until tomorrow though. I mean, we have to buy all the craft supplies still, and _I'd_ like to check a few of my books for design ideas first." "I thought we were going to be keeping the decorations simple," Sora was confused, "Why would you need design ideas?" The red-head looked defiant as she defended her reasoning, "Just because they're going to be simple doesn't mean we can't make them look good." "Careful, Kairi," Riku teased, "Your inner rich girl is showing." The girl flicked her silver-haired friend in the ear, "Oh, shut up." "So what are we going to do for the rest of the day," the brunette asked his female friend. "Shop for supplies of course," she proclaimed happily. The two boys cringed at that. "Not how I wanted to spend my day," the silver-haired boy muttered. Still, he knew there was no getting out of it now. Kairi pretty much ran their trio through a blend of charm and intimidation, and the two boys knew better than to argue after all the time they'd been friends. The ten-year old felt that the girl took after her father more than she'd like to admit when it came to getting people to follow her lead. He'd shared his feelings with Sora one day last fall and he couldn't help but admit that the younger boy had a pretty good point when he'd given his reply, "At least she doesn't go overboard." Riku had immediately come up with a mental image of the red-haired girl being mad with power and it was honestly quite terrifying to behold. He reflected once more on that image as the red-head got ready to head out and shuddered at the memory. A day of shopping was _infinitely_ more preferable than what his imagination had come up with last year. "You both get allowances, right," Kairi checked as she stacked the last of the notebooks, "I'm only asking because I'm not sure I can cover everything with the ninety-five munny I have left." "I've got about fifty munny saved up," the brown-haired boy admitted, "What about you, Riku?" The silver-haired boy flushed slightly as he reluctantly confessed, "…one-thousand five-hundred and sixty munny…" The other two kids stared at their older friend in disbelief. "H-how do you have _that_ much saved," the nine-year old boy stammered. "By being responsible with it," the older boy replied drily, "I get sixty munny a week same as you. I started setting ten aside for spending and stashing the rest for emergencies about six months ago. This doesn't count as an emergency, so we are _not_ spending my munny." Sora was about to argue that making their party awesome was _so_ an emergency when the lone female spoke up, "One hundred and forty-five munny should be enough. I just wasn't expecting you to have so much in reserve. That's actually a good idea though. I might start doing something like that with my own allowance. You should consider it too, Sora." The brunette slouched and sighed as he realized he was outnumbered, "I'll think about it…"

The three kids had taken a detour to ask Emiko and Mika for assistance with getting the food for the party ready before they headed out, and the two women had eagerly agreed. "It'll be fun to see if your party turns out better than the one's Touya used to tell me about," Mikazuki had laughed, "No wonder he sends Emiko the butcher…" "Hm, let's see here…sandwich trays, jello bowl, cupcakes, chips and dip, and fruit and veggie snack trays. That menu seems pretty simple," the elderly maid had ignored her employer as she went over the list they'd made, "I assume you three will be helping out as well?" When the three children had assured her that they planned on it she'd smiled and continued, "Then we should be able to get if finished well before its time for the party to start. It won't even interfere with lunch preparations." Once they had that matter settled, the trio headed out into town to gather the supplies they needed to make their decorations. Between Kairi's own stash of crafting supplies and the Shimomuras', they already had crafting scissors, glue, glitter, sequins, colored origami paper, and fishing line. However, they still needed fabric, fabric paint, paint brushes, ribbon, glass ornaments, and wooden crafting rods. "We can get the fabric, fabric paint, and ribbon from Miss Ohkawa's shop," Riku suggested as they walked down the road, "but I'm not sure where we can get the rest." "Mr. and Mrs. Amano run a craft business on the side," the red-head stated casually, "They should have what we need, and if they don't I'm sure they can get it by tomorrow. They've done special orders for me before." "The weavers run a side business," Sora blinked in surprise, "I never knew that." "You also aren't a crafting hobbyist," the silver-haired boy pointed out, "Kairi is."

The three teens soon arrived at the tailor's shop and started browsing. Eventually, the two boys stood off to the side and waited while Kairi and Miss Ohkawa went over fabric and ribbon options. They would have been happy with whatever, but the nine-year old girl was adamant that the fabric they chose met certain standards. She finally settled on a length of cream colored linen cloth and red, white, blue, gold, green and pink ribbons. The entire process took close to three hours. Choosing the fabric paint was easier; she just grabbed a full spectrum packet of jars. Having that half of their supplies in hand the trio headed over to the weaver's shop just across the street. Yoshiyuki Amano was manning the front of the shop when they walked in and greeted the red-head enthusiastically. "Ah, Kairi! Good to see you," the man beamed. "Hello, Mr. Amano. How are you today," she responded politely "Quite well, thank you," he replied before shifting into shopkeeper mode and asking, "Is there anything I can help you with?" Kairi presented the list of crafting materials they still needed and the strawberry-blonde haired man rubbed his thin-goatee thoughtfully as he considered their stock. "We have rods and paint brushes in stock right now," he admitted, "but no glass ornaments. However, my cousin in Aozora has a glassblowing business. It should be no trouble for me to call him up and see if he has any lying around that he'd be willing to sell me. It'll cost you extra for a special order, though." "Usual price," Kairi asked. The man nodded and the girl handed over the rest of the munny the trio had with them, "This should be enough to cover it, right?" Mr. Amano counted out the munny and smiled kindly at the red-haired girl before handing her the change, "Five munny over, in fact. I'll get right on that. Is there anything else?" "We still need the rods and paint brushes," Riku pointed out. The man laughed and agreed that the silver-haired boy was right before heading into the back to take care of their order.

With the last of their supplies gathered, the trio headed back to the Shimomura house. "You sure we need to wait until tomorrow to work on the decorations," Sora questioned plaintively. Kairi was firm when she replied, "Yes. The banner, streamers, origami ornaments, and kirigami ornaments are going to be easy enough, but the hanging light-catchers are going to be a bit tricky to put together. I just want to get some ideas that won't look sloppy when they're finished." Riku just grunted as he carried the bags of supplies; somehow he always ended up being the one to carry things back. This was why he _hated_ shopping with his female friend. 'I don't know why she doesn't ask Sora to carry things every once and a while,' the silver-haired boy griped internally, 'He isn't _that_ clumsy.' Fortunately, it was a short walk back. He wasn't carrying the bags for very long, and he made no secret of how happy he was about that once they arrived. "So I guess you're going to take off now, huh," the brunette mentioned sadly as he ignored his best friend's somewhat out of character happy dance to focus on the red-head. "I probably should," she admitted, "I have a _lot_ of crafting books and it's already five o' clock. If we want to get an early start tomorrow I need to get as much reading done tonight as I can." Sora sulked a bit; he didn't _want_ Kairi to leave yet. He liked hanging out when it was just the three of them. As much as he loved spending time with his brother and the rest of their friends it somehow felt…right…when it was only their trio. The nine-year old girl beamed at the dejected looking brunette and punched him lightly in the shoulder, "Cheer up, Sora! I'll be back again tomorrow and we can spend the entire day working on the decorations and just hanging out." The younger Yagami perked up significantly at that statement, "You're right! Alright then, I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow." "Bright and early," the red-head chirped with a mischievous grin, "So don't stay up too late." The brown-haired boy shook his head emphatically, "I won't! I promise!" Kairi laughed, caught Riku's attention to say goodbye to him as well, and headed out the door. She was a lot more excited about the crafting session tomorrow than she was letting on. Her silver-haired friend had referred to her as a crafting hobbyist, and this was true. However, making things was more than just a hobby for her. The crafts she worked on, either alone or with her friends, all represented a connection for her. When she worked on them with her friends, she felt the collaboration made them all so much closer; it strengthened their connection as a group. When she worked alone, she always had the person she was creating the project for in her mind. She put her feelings for that person into her work, so the end result was always deeply personal; it strengthened her connection to that particular person. Even if she was making something for herself, it also represented a connection because she was connecting with her own feelings as she worked.

Kairi soon made it back to her home and headed right up to her room to get started on her reading. As she reached for the books she needed off of her shelf, she happened to glance at her desk and paused as she noticed the half-finished project lying there. The red-head's gaze swept over the scattered thalassa shells, strips of dried paopu skin, stained glass pieces, and silver wire that were slowly taking shape as a star-shaped charm: a Wayfinder. She'd had honestly been fascinated by the lore surrounding Wayfinders since she'd overheard some of the fisherman's wives talking about it at the baker's when she was four. Her mother had brought her along when she went to pick up a cake for a party. She started the project with the intent to make one for each of her friends last summer, but progress had been slow. The girl had yet to finish the first one; partially because her group of friends kept _growing_. She kept having to stop and re-work who would get what charm and with which design of ornament set in the center. So far she had an 'X' shape for Roxas, a heart above a cross for Ventus, a crown for Sora, a stylized heart combined with an x-shaped cross for Vanitas, a miss-matched pair of wings – one a black bat's wing and the other a white angel wing – for Riku, a simple heart for herself, and was still working out what to give Namine. Kairi smiled to herself as she imagined what it would be like when she gave her friends the completed charms. Honestly, the trickiest part was combining the stained glass and wire to make the little ornaments. The actual charm itself was pretty easy to make, but she wanted to give them a more personal touch; hence the ornaments. Still, she didn't see any rush. As far as the red-head was concerned, she and her friends would be together forever. The charms were just for insurance. The girl shook herself out of her thoughts and grabbed the books off of her shelf. As important as the Wayfinders were to her, at the moment she had higher priorities. Sora was counting on her to help out with his party, and that was exactly what she was going to do. The only break she took from her reading that night was to eat dinner before she returned to her room and continued studying. By the time she went to bed that night the mayor's daughter had a pretty good idea of what the best designs for the light-catchers would be. She could hardly wait for morning to come so she could share her ideas with her two best friends. In spite of her excitement, she was soon fast asleep and – in her dreams – she was at the party with all of her friends having the time of her life. It was a good night.

 **A/N:** Several things I brought up in this chapter that I want to clarify a bit more. First, the origin of Sora's focus problem is partially drawn from all the side-quests and stuff in the first game. I'm a rabid completionist, so naturally I have to spend hours diverted from the main quest pursuing those extra bits. The problem is that the story of the game implies that Sora is in a race against the Heartless and Maleficent's group to seal the Hearts of the Worlds before they are all destroyed. This implies a serious _in universe_ time limit. The inclusion of all these extra time-wasting bits kind of messes with that, and Sora is also supposed to be fourteen when the first game starts. From what I remember, fourteen year olds are not the most focused when confronted with that many distractions. I sure wasn't…but then I am also autistic and my focus problem is more tied to the fact that if I am not interested in something then it may as well not exist. That's just how my brain is wired. Getting off track; anyways, my head-canon is that Sora is just easily distracted. He can be focused when it really counts, but if the threat isn't obvious…I kind of see him as the kind of kid who goes off chasing dragonflies. Second, the problem Namine mentioned is a real thing. I've read books (don't ask about my choice of reading materials. I am one of those people who will read anything if it looks interesting enough…or if I think it will help add more depth to my writing) and they've made that pretty clear. Third, I realized I've never really clarified on Kairi's parents' hair color. For the record, Kojiro's hair is the same color as Genesis' (from Crisis Core) though its style is more Reeve's (including facial hair). Kasumi's hair is darker; more of a wine red and is slightly wavy (think Sailor Neptune). Fourth, I wanted to establish that Kairi's parents do have reasons for their behavior towards Vanitas. Are they still judging him without knowing him? Yes, and that is going to be a problem for a while. However, they are still motivated primarily out of their love for their daughter. Basically, I want to make it clear that they aren't _bad_ people…just a bit misguided. Fifth, the Alliance of Seven Kingdoms is the lands from the movies _Snow White_ , _Sleeping Beauty_ , _Cinderella_ , _The Little Mermaid_ , _Beauty and the Beast_ , _Tangled_ , and _Frozen_. Yes, they are all Disney Princess movies. Yes, I left out several. I figure _Aladdin_ deserves a kingdom of its own (not sure what to call it just yet. I am open to suggestions, though), _Brave_ is so blatantly set in the British Isles that I'll probably group it with _Sword in the Stone_ (calling it either Caledonia or Britannia. Leaning towards Caledonia), and _Princess and the Frog_ is too modern in comparison with the other films. Plus it's set in New Orleans which is _not a kingdom_! Furthermore, I've yet to actually watch that movie. At least I've _seen_ the other films, so I can adapt them to Kingdom Hearts. Assume it exists somewhere on the reformed world, but it isn't relevant to the plot. Admittedly, neither are the others I mentioned, but I can't resist the urge to do world building! I just love it so much! Sixth, I will not be covering the rest of the build up to the party nor the party itself. I pretty much only had birthday parties when I was a kid, and from what I remember they were pretty underwhelming. I liked them well enough, but the people I invited never seemed to enjoy them all that much. Due to the lack of interesting party experience in my life I do not feel I can write one and make it believable. Just know that it happened, it was a huge success, and Vanitas _did_ show up for the last five minutes. Finally, the ornaments on the Wayfinders are made of a mix of stained glass and wire. Roxas' is the 'X' zipper on his outfit at the start of KHII (pure wire). Ventus' is the charm on his and Aqua's outfits in Birth by Sleep (green glass and wire). Sora's is pretty obvious; it's the crown charm on his necklace in the games (gold glass and wire). Vanitas' is the Unversed symbol (blue, red, and black glass and wire). Riku's is based on the design of his Keyblade: Way to Dawn (black and white glass and wire). Kairi's is just a simple little pink glass heart pieced together with, and wrapped in, wire to symbolize her status as a Princess of Heart in the games. Namine's is probably going to be a little yellow star based on the fake charm Sora and the Riku Replica both had in Chains of Memories. I plan on saving the Nobody symbol for someone else in book three…or four. Wow, this note got long fast… Heh, thirteenth chapter has thirteen pages in my word processor. Next chapter has a bit of a reveal for the group of friends. Namely…they are going to learn a pretty big secret about two of their friends. This is a terrible hint. The answer is way too obvious. Eh, whatever. I'll see you all next time.


	15. Taking a Chance

**A/N:** So our other protagonists are finally going to learn about what Riku and Vanitas are capable of in this chapter. Well, sort of. Vanitas is still holding back on the existence of the Unversed. That little reveal isn't going to come out until the end of book three or the start of book four. Or sooner if my imagination decides to plot against me; honestly, I'm still a bit iffy on the timing for that reveal. But the other Dark powers are going to be revealed. They've both gotten a fair bit stronger, so there will be some new abilities being showcased! Mostly I'm doing this just to show how they've progressed, and so that the others can be all supportive. Poor Vanitas is going to need the good memories… Particularly once the climax comes… Yeah, I'm starting the build-up already. We've still got another chapter or so after this one before everything comes to a head.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 14: Taking a Chance

Riku lay on his back in the courtyard twining tendrils of Darkness between his fingers as he thought. 'Four years I've been at this, and I've improved my control a lot,' he mused, 'Still...this is only supposed to be half of what I can do. I may be well on my way to mastering the Dark…but what about Light? How _do_ you call on it anyways?' The eleven-year old sighed and dismissed the Darkness as he stared up at the cloudy winter sky. 'Vanitas has come a long ways too,' the boy admitted to himself, 'He's already perfectly blended Darkness and magic with his swordplay. He's got the Dark Portal down flat. And he keeps coming up with new techniques that Mom has never seen before… It's almost like he's one with the Darkness at times. It'd be creepy if I didn't think it suited him.' The silver-haired boy sighed and shivered slightly as the wind started picking up; he slowly got to his feet and huddled into his jacket as he tried to warm back up. "Guess another storm's coming in," he grumbled, "And here I was enjoying the break… Looks like I'll have to head back in sooner than I wanted…" Sora had recently taken up magic lessons himself and, while it was doing a lot to improve his focus, he sometimes lost control of his spells while practicing. Both of the older boys had taken to making themselves scarce during these times. Riku had adopted the courtyard as his hide-away while Vanitas took advantage of the Dark Portal technique to slip-away to who-knows-where. He'd finally worked out the shielding technique a few days before his birthday which prompted Mikazuki to teach him how to access the Dark Corridors as a birthday gift. The silver-haired boy had recently worked out the shield himself, and was looking forward to learning the Dark Portal ability during their next lesson. He scowled at the sky as the wind picked up further and grunted as he turned to head back indoors. 'Hopefully, Sora's finished for the day,' the boy grimaced, 'Getting hit by stray lightning bolts is not fun…'

Vanitas twirled a stalk of grass between his fingers as he looked out across the Sanctuary of Rainbows. True to his word, as soon as he learned how to access the Dark Corridors, he came back to the isolated clearing every chance he got. He could think without his emotions distracting him here, and right now he _really_ needed that freedom. The black-haired boy was well aware that his friends, specifically the ones who _didn't_ know about his abilities, suspected that he was hiding something from them; he just wasn't sure if he should come clean. If he should reveal his affinity for Darkness and all that it entailed. He'd talked to both Riku and Sora about it a few times in recent months, and they seemed to think their friends would handle the revelation just fine. 'The problem,' Vanitas sighed tiredly, 'is that _I'm_ not sure I can take that chance. It was _because_ of my powers that Akira went mad and _that_ entire nightmare happened…Sora's opinion notwithstanding… What if revealing them…makes it happen again? I'm scared… Hell, I'm utterly terrified! I can't lose them!' He clenched his eyes shut as they started to burn with tears and tried to breathe evenly; his fear was spiking and he had to fight to wrestle it back down. Once he'd calmed back down he groaned and flopped back onto the grass; golden-yellow eyes slid back open and focused on the storm clouds blowing in. "A storm's coming," he murmured, "but I'm not ready to head back yet. Let it come…" The dark-haired boy drifted back into contemplation about how he was going to handle the whole Darkness thing. Sure, he trusted his friends…to a point. However, he was so heavily conditioned to expect people to reject his powers that he simply couldn't imagine any other reaction. The fact was, he considered Sora and the Shimomuras' acceptance of his abilities to be flukes. Besides, since two of those who accepted him could use Darkness themselves, their acceptance was pretty much a given. Vanitas _wanted_ to trust that his friends would accept what he could do; desperately. A part of him was just so _tired_ of hiding everything, but it was such a struggle to overcome his own paranoia. He just didn't know what to do. "I _hate_ being afraid all the time," the eleven-year old whispered as the first raindrops fell, "I really, really hate it… I just…wish I knew how to stop…" He continued to lay there as the storm broke and just let the cold water soak him down to the skin. He wasn't worried about getting sick from the chill; Yuki had taught him how to channel Fire spells internally to stay warm. Besides, he rarely got sick anyways; diseases were annoying, not dangerous. Vanitas closed his eyes and focused only on the sounds of the storm; he just let everything fade and wash away under the falling rain.

A Dark Portal swirled open in the courtyard several hours after the storm had hit and a soaking wet Vanitas stepped through before dismissing it with a wave. He still hadn't come to a decision, but he could feel Sora's mounting concern. He didn't like it when his younger sibling worried unnecessarily, so he'd chosen to return. After three years of effort, so far, all the black-haired boy had managed to do was block his own emotions from flowing down the link. It was an improvement, and he was slightly amused that he could now tell what his brother was feeling while the younger boy had no clue as to _his_ emotional state. It was a total role-reversal. The boy walked into the house and shook his head vigorously to get some of the excess water off. He was still saturated, but at least his hair was no longer dripping onto his face and shoulders. Vanitas made his way towards the living room where he could smell the younger boy's Light; the sooner his brother calmed down the sooner he could get dried off and stop trailing water everywhere. "Hey squirt," he greeted casually as he entered the room. Sora's head snapped around at his older brother's greeting and his eyes widened. "Vani," the younger boy cried as he tackle-hugged the older boy, "Where were you?!" The older boy rolled his eyes at his sibling's dramatic greeting and patted his head, "Out. I needed to think." "But you're soaked," the brunette protested. "Wasn't going to let a storm interrupt me," the golden-eyed boy shrugged, "Besides it's just water. It can't hurt me." "What if you get sick," the younger brother worried as he looked up at the taller boy. "Sora, it's me," Vanitas smirked, "I don't _get_ sick. Seriously, I'm fine. You worry _way_ too much." He playfully ruffled the younger boy's spiky hair which prompted the kid to release his older brother and swat his hands away. "I hate it when you do that," Sora pouted. "Well, I love doing it," the older boy's smirk widened, "Now I'm gonna go dry off. Emiko is already going to be ticked with all the water I'm tracking through the house. May as well not make it any worse. Be right back!" He then promptly opened a Dark Corridor that connected to their room and stepped through. "He likes using those way too much," the brunette sweatdropped as the swirling Darkness droned ominously. The ebony-haired boy stepped back through a few minutes later and waved the Portal away.

Vanitas flopped on the couch and glanced back at his brother, "So how's the magic practice coming along?" The younger boy flushed in embarrassment and gave a sheepish laugh, "Um, I've kind of been banned from practicing indoors anymore… I kind of smashed a vase with a stray Thunder spell… I thought Aunt Mika was gonna strangle me…" The black-haired boy shook his head in amusement, "You and your control issues… Want me to give you some pointers?" "Please," Sora begged pathetically, "I don't get what I'm doing wrong!" The older brother chuckled and gestured for his younger sibling to join him on the couch. His brother promptly hurried over and plopped himself down next to the older boy. The brunette watched with wide eyes as his older sibling summoned a Fire spell to his hand and started to explain how control worked. He demonstrated his own fine control during the explanation by causing the fireball to grow, shrink, and flow between his hands as he talked. "Magic relies on focus and will power," Vanitas spoke clearly and calmly, "Will power to fuel it, and focus to direct it. You've got plenty of will power if you're smashing vases, so your problem lies with focus. You need to concentrate on what you're doing. Hold the image of what you want the magic to do in your mind. If you want to attack you focus on your target and the magic will respond. If you want to heal your wounds focus on that and again the magic will do just that. If you want to make it do something more complicated then all you need to do is imagine it clearly and _focus_. Then let your will flow through you and the magic will do as you wish. That's why Yuki has you meditate, so you can learn to focus. That's cause when you're meditating your focusing on the rhythm of your breathing and nothing else. Once you've got that down you need to learn to apply that same focus while there are distractions going on around you. It's not easy, but it's doable."

The older boy then allowed the Fire spell to fade away as he glanced over to his sibling, "I'm guessing you didn't do the meditation exercises, though, did you?" Sora nodded and scratched his head with a sheepish grin, "Yeah. It was boring…" Vanitas shook his head, "I thought so. So let's look at it this way. You're focused when you're sparring, right?" The younger boy nodded and brightened, "Yeah!" "Fighting's a lot like meditating only you're focused on hitting your opponent and not being hit as opposed to on your breathing. All you need to do is learn how to apply that focus when casting," the taller boy smirked as he lightly rapped his knuckles on his brother's forehead, "It's the same exact thing only you're drawing on your will power instead of wielding a blade. When the storm stops we can try it in the courtyard, alright?" "But what if I do something wrong and hurt you," the brunette worried. The golden-eyed boy snorted and raised an eyebrow, "Sora, I can call up a Dark Shield before you can even blink. You'd have to bring the entire house down on top of me in order to break it, and you are _not_ that powerful a mage. I'll be fine."

Riku walked into the room at this point and coughed to break into the conversation. "You might want to rethink that plan," he commented, "or did you forget that the others are coming over later today. Unless you decided you're okay with them knowing about you being a Darkness wielder. I mean, last I checked you were still a bit reluctant." Vanitas winced, "Ah, shit I forgot… And I _am_ still not comfortable with the idea. Six years of constant rejection is kind of hard to overcome, you know. I'm not _used_ to people being accepting of what I can do… What if they think I'm…" He trailed off and covered his eyes with his palms before slumping forwards with a sigh. "I don't want them to think I'm a monster," the black-haired boy whispered tiredly, "But…at the same time… I'm so _tired_ of having to hide it." Sora leaned over and embraced his older brother sympathetically, "You _aren't_ a monster, Vani. Monsters don't care about people. You do, and we all know it." "Heh," the older boy huffed a bitter laugh, "Told myself pretty much the same thing when I was two… Didn't stop Akira and the villagers from treating me like one anyways…" Riku bit his lip in concern; his friend was being unusually open for once and that worried him. The older boy _never_ talked honestly about his feelings and would either deflect by claiming that he was fine, or he would simply pretend he didn't hear. For him to actually let his barriers down enough to talk honestly about how he felt…

"What if," the silver-haired boy spoke up slowly, "I show the others my powers and, depending on how they react, you can use it to help you make up your mind one way or the other? That way you won't have to put yourself at risk." Vanitas stiffened and whipped his head around to stare at his best friend. "You'd do that," he gaped in astonishment, "for me… Put your life on the line…just so I can have peace of mind?" "Sure," the aqua-eyed boy grinned, "I'll always have your back." "I have your guys' backs too," Sora piped up, "That's what best friends and family do for each other!" The ebony-haired boy shook his head slowly before he smiled weakly, "And here I thought I was the only one with a stupidly self-sacrificial streak… Alright, we can go with your idea, but on one condition. If the worst happens…I want both of you to run for it." "Why," Riku frowned. "Because I have your backs too," golden eyes glinted with mischief, "There's still something I can do without making the risk you're taking pointless. I can hide myself in the shadows with an illusion. That way, if things go bad, I can call up the Unversed to be a distraction and escape through a Dark Corridor before they even notice I'm there. It's win-win. I can resolve my inner conflict, _and_ I can be sure you guys'll be safe too."

The brunette laughed and hugged his brother again prompting the older boy to try and shove him off. "Okay, seriously, enough with the hugging," the dark-haired boy protested. "Sorry," Sora grinned brightly, "I'm just happy you're acting like _you_ again!" Vanitas stared at his younger brother blankly, "What?" "You've been all sad and distant for a while now," the younger boy clarified, "I missed the mischievous big brother who was still always there for me when I needed him. You finally came back!" The older boy's expression softened as he slowly returned the hug, "Silly Sora…I never left. Just because I wear a mask these days doesn't mean that part of me is gone. It just means it's hidden." "But you aren't wearing a mask," the brunette blinked in confusion, "I can see your face just fine." "Not all masks can be seen," the golden-eyed boy murmured as he closed his eyes. "Why would you need a mask anyways," Sora was still confused. "Reasons," his brother replied as he pulled back with a sigh, "You don't want to know. Trust me. I don't hold stuff back because I _like_ to." "Then why," the brunette wondered, "You used to tell me things all the time. What changed?" Vanitas looked away and clenched his fists on his lap before he spoke, "It's…complicated. When we were little the things I told you were harmless. They couldn't hurt you… Now…Sora if I told you _half_ of the stuff I'm keeping back your Heart would break. I can't do that to you or anyone else. Besides…even back then…I didn't tell you _everything_." The younger boy gave his older brother a hurt look at that. Riku walked over and smacked the taller boy in the back of the head making him yelp. "What was that for," the older boy protested. The silver-haired boy snorted, "And you call _Ven_ an idiot. How long do you honestly think you'll last holding things in all the time? We've told you time and again that you don't have to suffer alone. Besides, I don't think you're giving us anywhere near enough credit. We won't break so easily." Vanitas glowered at his best friend before he spoke in a clipped tone, "I can handle it." He then stood and headed for the stairs but pausing at the door; he fixed the other two with a cold stare. " _Don't_ follow me," he stated firmly before he turned and left.

The other two boys didn't realize it, but Vanitas was more heavily affected by their words than they knew. The ebony-haired boy only left because he'd already revealed more about how he felt than he had intended. He was afraid that the rest of what he was keeping back was about to spill out; he couldn't let that happen. They had no idea just how powerful the negative emotions he held within truly were. What was worse was that, the last few months, his control had started to fray under the stress of keeping everything back. Ironically, it was partly _because_ of all the secrets he was keeping from his friends and the guilt he felt over it that was causing him the most trouble. The boy bit his lip as he slumped against the door of his room and tilted his head back. "I am such a mess," he whispered. He flinched in pain as the ache in his Heart abruptly spiked; it had never truly gone away since the day he'd discovered his ability to summon the Unversed. He clutched at his chest as the pain grew and started to pant heavily; slowly, he slid down the door until he was curled up in an agonized ball on the floor. Vanitas clenched his teeth tightly as he tried to hold back an agonized moan. He didn't get these attacks often, but they were sheer torture when they _did_ hit. This was one of the things he'd been keeping secret from his friends, and if he had it his way they would never find out. A strangled groan escaped him as the pain reached its peak and he started to shiver in agony as it held; he knew from past experience that it would be several minutes before it faded again. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the pain started to diminish and the tension slowly drained out of him. The agonized eleven-year old panted weakly as he simply lay there in exhaustion. As always he was utterly wiped out by the attack and, to his dismay, the empty feeling had grown slightly stronger as well. The emptiness grew with every attack he suffered, and he _knew_ that couldn't mean anything good. "What is _wrong_ with me," he breathed as his eyes slid shut, "I'm so tired…" Vanitas tried to sit back up, but collapsed limply back to the floor and cursed weakly. He hoped Sora and Riku listened to him and didn't come looking. He didn't want them to see him like this…so _weak_. He _hated_ it. The dark-haired boy's breathing evened out as he slowly fell into a light doze while his body recovered from the agony it had just endured. It would be another several minutes before he awakened again.

Riku leaned next to the front window and watched the rain patter lightly against it; the storm would pass soon. He sighed and banged his head against the wall in frustration as he thought about how stubborn Vanitas was being. He was going to be bringing this up to Roxas; the older twin was the only other person in their group who would be willing to challenge their mutual friend. Namine was too passive, Kairi was too patient, Sora was too cautious, and Ventus… Well, he was willing, but everyone knew that the only thing that would come out of his challenging the older boy was the Ven gaining a black eye. The silver-haired boy glanced back at the younger of his two best friends. The brunette was chewing his lip uneasily and staring off into space. "Something wrong, Sora," the older boy asked. The blue-eyed boy sighed and focused on his friend, "I'm…not sure. Vanitas still has his end of our link blocked, so I don't know how he's feeling right now…but…I think he's getting unstable again. He just went from depressed, to almost normal, to resigned, and then to annoyed in under five minutes. That's not a good sign." Riku groaned and ran a hand down his face, "Great. Another thing we need to worry about." The two boys waited in silence for several minutes before Sora spoke up again. "He's not going to accept our help," he sighed, "He didn't even like it when I treated his wounds back when Akira was still around. Every time I came for him he'd tell me to leave him. The only reason he didn't force me away is that he was always too weak to resist by that point. Vanitas is just way too independent for his own good..." "I hear that," the aqua-eyed boy smiled sadly, "If that's the case…I don't think we should wait for him to accept it. By then…he'd probably be too far gone…" The brunette flinched at his best friend's wording which prompted the older boy to comment, "I didn't mean that quite the way it sounded. It's not like his recent attitude is gonna kill him. He's stubborn not suicidal." The other boy was quiet for a few moments before he admitted, "Vanitas blamed himself for what happened. I don't know if he still feels that way after I told him off, but… He thought he shouldn't have lived. That he deserved death. Worse… I've only recently figured it out…but when he threatened Akira back when I was five… he basically said that he didn't care what happened to him…that he didn't care if he died…," he sighed sadly as his light-haired friend paled at this revelation before he concluded, "He may not be suicidal…but…I still don't think he's all that attached to living…" Riku swallowed hard as he looked towards the door to the stairs. "I won't let him," he promised, "I won't let your brother die. Not without a fight." "I won't either," Sora vowed, "He may not admit it…but he _needs_ us."

The storm ended a half-an-hour later and the first of their friends arrived not long afterwards. Namine smiled demurely as she stepped through the front door. "Hello," she bowed politely, "It's good to see you again." "Hey, Namine," Riku grinned back, "You know you don't need to be so formal, right?" The blonde girl flushed and gave an embarrassed laugh, "Um, sorry. I'm still not used to being casual with people." "That's fine," the older boy waved her apology away, "Take all the time you need. I'm still gonna keep reminding you though." The girl nodded and took a seat on one of the chairs scattered about the living room to wait for the others to arrive. Kairi was the next to show up, and she looked irritated when the door opened. "My dad," she stated flatly as she walked through the door, "is insane. Do you know what he tried to do yesterday? He tried to set me up in an arranged marriage with a guy in Yume. When I'm only ten." "Ouch," the silver-haired boy winced, "How'd you get out of it?" "The guy they tried to set me up with didn't want to marry a girl ten years younger than he was," was her deadpan response, "The one upside is that the guy went on to threaten to report him if he ever tried it again with anyone else in town. Mom flipped out on him, too, once she found out. He won't be trying _that_ again." "Good," Sora scowled, "Your dad shouldn't try to make you be with someone you don't like. Besides, I'd miss you if you left…" Kairi blushed slightly and beamed at the brunette, "I'd miss you too, Sora!" Riku looked between his two friends, glanced at Namine who was covering a smile with her hands, and smirked. 'If they don't end up together,' he thought as he watched the red-head take a seat, 'I'll be surprised. Wonder if I should help it along…?'

A few minutes later the twins showed up; Roxas looked annoyed while Ventus was desperately trying to apologize for something. "Look," the younger blonde pleaded, "I really am sorry!" "Shut. Up," the older twin growled venomously as his eye twitched. Ven squeaked and clamped his mouth shut as his older brother stormed indoors and flopped on the couch next to Sora. "Dare I ask," the brunette wondered aloud. "Ventus," the annoyed blonde snarled, "thought it would be a good idea to barge into my room while I was working on a figurine. I nearly sliced my thumb off. Then he thought that pouring rubbing alcohol on my hand was a good idea." "I was trying to help," the younger twin protested. "You don't pour rubbing alcohol on gaping flesh wounds," the older boy snapped back, "You basically poisoned me! I'm just lucky Baba was already at the house dropping off dad's cold remedy, or I might not have made it over today. Thank Kingdom Hearts for Esuna and Cure spells…" Ventus cringed at the looks he got from Namine and Kairi, "I'm sorry. I panicked… There was just so much blood…" Roxas waved his bandaged left hand dismissively, "Give me another few hours and I _might_ forgive you. Right now I am just _way_ too ticked off."

Riku shut the door and looked at his gathered friends with a faint grin, 'Never a dull moment with these guys.' Kairi looked around curiously, "So where's Vanitas hiding?" Sora shifted uncomfortably as he responded, "Um, he headed upstairs a while ago and asked Riku and I not to follow him. He was in kind of a bad mood." Roxas sighed, "I'll get him." "No need," a voice sounded out, "I'm right here." The other kids turned to look and, sure enough, Vanitas was leaning against the door to the stairs with a smirk on his face. He showed no signs of the attack he'd suffered earlier that afternoon. The older boy straightened up and walked over to join the rest of the group as they started to converse idly. Namine kept asking questions about what school had been like that week which each of the other kids took turns answering. Conversation then drifted over to wondering if they were going to get to spar that day; the general consensus was resolved as not being likely. Riku took the break that cropped up at that point to set the plan he, Sora, and Vanitas had made earlier into motion. "Well, we could still head out into the courtyard anyways," he commented, "There's something I want to show you guys." Golden eyes narrowed as their owner realized what his best friend was doing. The other kids clearly didn't suspect anything strange, but he was still wary. "You guys go ahead," the oldest boy lied easily, "I'll catch up after I snag a snack from the kitchen. Besides, I've already seen it, so I can miss a bit." The rest of the kids accepted his excuse and followed the silver-haired boy out into the courtyard. The black-haired boy waited for them to walk into the hall before he opened a Dark Corridor to the back of the Courtyard and slipped through. Vanitas quickly weaved an illusion about himself as he settled into the corner near the door; the shadows were darkest there. He didn't have long to wait before the door opened and the rest of the group arrived. It was time to see how they would react to the knowledge that at least one of their number was a Darkness wielder.

Riku took a deep breath as he met the gaze of his friends, "So…there's something I need to ask you guys first." Ventus blinked, "Eh? Why? Why can't you just get right into it?" "Just let him ask," Kairi scolded before she smiled at her silver-haired friend, "Go ahead, Riku." The older boy tensed slightly before he slowly spoke, "What…are your guys' opinions on Darkness?" Sora was the first to answer with a shrug, "You already know mine." The aqua-eyed boy shot a mock glare at his friend before he grinned, "Yeah, I do." Roxas grinned slightly, "What, my rants against the bigots in class weren't clear enough? I don't have a problem with it. Never have." "Same," Ven raised his hand, "Plus we covered stuff like that in school back East, and the teachers always treated the Darkness fairly. It's _dangerous_ , but it's not _bad_." Namine thought carefully before she gave her answer, "I…honestly don't have an opinion. It's never had much of an impact on my life." The red-head just shrugged, "I don't know enough about it to have an opinion either. You know me. I don't like condemning things just because I don't know anything about them." Riku relaxed slightly, "Alright. Now for a bit of a confession." The other kids, aside from Sora, blinked in confusion before their eyes widened in surprise as the older boy summoned tendrils of Darkness to snake down his arm. "I," the silver-haired boy stated plainly, "am a Darkness wielder. It's something I was born with. Technically, I have what is called a dual affinity because I should be able to use Light too. Problem is I've never had anyone show me _how_ to use that set of abilities, so I just make do with the Darkness for now." He then launched into a brief summary of his mother's lecture on what Darkness was and what it drew power from, "Darkness is a force that draws on the primal emotions for power. There is Darkness in every Heart to some degree or another, but only wielders like me can safely draw on it. Control is a big part of our training because the primal emotions aren't exactly what one would call stable. That means that the Darkness can be pretty volatile to work with. If we aren't careful it can consume our Hearts and we'll become Heartless. Fortunately, that doesn't happen often. It's pretty much common knowledge amongst Darkness wielders that the force we work with is only dangerous when it is uncontrolled. Mine pretty much just sits there until call on it. Like this." Riku waved his hand and summoned a weak Dark Aura sphere. "This is a technique called the Dark Aura," the silver-haired boy explained, "It's an offensive technique. A full powered one can do about as much damage as a Firaga only the damage is Darkness based instead of Fire based. This one's pretty weak, and wouldn't do more than sting a bit if it hit anyone. Not that it will," the boy dispelled the sphere before giving his friends a shy smile, "So…what do you think?"

The other kids blinked for a bit before Ventus grinned broadly and exclaimed, "That was so _cool!_ " Vanitas relaxed as the rest of the kids soon echoed the younger Harris twin's sentiments. "It doesn't seem so scary," Kairi mused, "I don't know why Sakura and her family have such a problem with it." "It's more widespread than that," Sora admitted, "if any of the other villagers found out Riku could do this they'd attack him. Aunt Mika warned him to never let anyone he didn't trust implicitly to know about his powers, and she gave me the same warning." "You can use Darkness too," Ven squeaked. The black-haired boy tensed as he made up his mind, dispelled his illusion, and spoke up, "He can't…but I can." He struggled to keep his cool as the other kids turned to look in his direction in shock. "How long," Namine wondered, "have you been standing there?" "Since before you got here," the older boy admitted as he walked out into the open, "I used a Dark Corridor as a shortcut before I used my own abilities to weave an illusion of shadows to hide myself. I've been using the Darkness a lot longer than Riku has, so I can do more with it. Unlike him, though, I'm mostly self-taught." Roxas' eyes narrowed as he suddenly realized something, " _That's_ why Akira hated you, isn't it?" Both Yagami boys winced before Sora spoke up, "Yeah. I didn't find out about his powers in full until I was five. I mean, he'd always been a fast healer and sometimes had these moments where he'd do something I thought was strange, but it wasn't until Akira tried to drown him that he stopped holding back on what he could do." "You'd hold back too if you always instinctively knew just how much damage you were capable of," the older boy shrugged, "and it wasn't so much the drowning as the fact that I heard you call him a monster and then cry out in pain. I knew that man's temper better than anyone. He wouldn't have stopped there, so I called on the Darkness for strength…and did something about it." A bitter laugh escaped him as he shook his head, "First time I ever learned how effective a tool fear could be. I _made_ him fear me, so that he would _never_ lay a hand on my brother ever again. He _had_ to believe that I would kill him in cold blood if he tried anything. But I underestimated his hatred... It consumed even his fear…and…I never imagined he would go insane…or to what extremes that insanity would drive him. Shows what I know…" Ventus cringed at the clear note of self-loathing in the older boy's voice before he spoke up, "Hey, there was no way you could have known that your fath-" Roxas slapped a hand over his twin's mouth and hissed in his ear, "Do _not_ finish that sentence." The older twin picked up on something in his friend's demeanor that was setting off all sorts of warning bells. His mood was clearly swinging towards its negative pole, but further than he had ever seen it go before. Normally, he just got slightly depressed, but for him to slip into full on self-loathing… The older blonde realized that Vanitas was dangerously unstable at that moment, and that his temper was on the most sensitive of hair-triggers.

Unfortunately, Roxas' attempt to avert his friend's impending meltdown was thwarted by Kairi's next words. "I still find it hard to believe you're _related_ to that man. He was a terrible person and the _worst_ excuse for a father." Vanitas' normally formidable, but now badly frayed, emotional control abruptly snapped at that statement; his eyes glowed brilliantly…and the Darkness exploded off of him as a writhing mass of tendrils that snapped and lashed at anyone who came near. "Akira was _not_ my father," he snarled venomously, "I don't _care_ if we're related through blood! He was _never_ my father! He _never_ _acted_ like one! Do you have _any_ idea what it feels like to be called a _monster_ every. Fucking. Day. For _six_ years?! To be told you never should have _existed?!_ He _hated_ me more than anything! He beat the _hell_ out of me whenever he so much as _suspected_ that I had used my abilities! He tried to _kill_ me more times than I can count! He _turned_ on _Sora_ for standing up for me! He _murdered_ our _mother_ in _cold blood_ because his _fucking hatred_ for _my Darkness_ _ **consumed**_ his Heart! _And then he had the_ _ **gall**_ _to claim he'd_ _ **saved**_ _her by doing so! That our_ _ **deaths**_ _would be our salvation!_ _ **I fucking LOATHE that bastard with all of my Heart! AND I WILL**_ _ **NEVER**_ _ **FORGIVE HIM FOR WHAT HE DID TO US!**_ _I can't!_ I just…can't…" Vanitas' fists slowly clenched until they were so tight that blood started dripping from them as angry tears fell from blazing golden eyes and his voice finally dropped to a bitter hiss; the raging hatred he'd been hiding for years had finally slipped out. He then started breathing heavily, clenched his eyes shut, and started to shake with the effort of reining his raging emotions, and the Darkness within him, back in. It was clear to everyone that his control had failed and he was fighting to get it back. "Do not lash out," they heard him choke out, "I am _not_ a monster, and I will _not_ lash out at people who don't deserve it. I _won't! I WON'T!_ " He took a deep breath and abruptly relaxed as the Darkness seething around him slowly calmed and faded away. "Vanitas," Riku asked worriedly, "You doing alright?" "Yeah…," the dark-haired boy breathed, "That was new. Shit, my emotions are still _fucked_ …" He started trembling slightly in exhaustion as he brought a hand to his forehead and turned away. "Sorry about that…," he stated tiredly, "I'm just gonna go…away…for a bit…" Roxas scowled and lunged forwards to grab his friend's arm. "No way," he snarled, "Not when you're hurting. What do we keep _telling_ you about suffering alone?!" Vanitas sighed and didn't turn back around, though he stopped trying to leave, before he responded tonelessly, "That you guys won't let me."

Namine bit her lip as she watched the two friends interact; one who was still clearly severely stressed out, and the other trying his hardest to help him recover. "Why," Roxas ground out, "didn't you _tell_ anyone you felt this way." The older boy just stood there silently for a few moments before he finally replied, "Because I was never allowed to before." The blonde boy froze as his friend continued in an empty voice, "Akira forbade me from _ever_ telling the truth about what I endured. If I ever tried to reach out…I'd get beaten. After a while…I just stopped trying. It wasn't worth the pain. That was my _life_. My entire child-hood. It's called being conditioned, Roxas, _look it up_." The taller boy then ripped his arm out of his friend's suddenly slack hand and raised his own to summon a Dark Portal. Namine glanced at Kairi and shared a nod with the girl before they both suddenly ran forward and wrapped their arms around the black-haired boy in a hug causing him to freeze. "What…," he breathed in shock as he glanced back at them. The blonde girl looked up and met his hollow golden gaze with her own eyes before she spoke, "I may not have known you as long as the others, but I _do_ know that what you went through should _not_ happen to _anybody_ _**ever**_ **.** I don't even know the whole story, but…you shouldn't talk about it if it hurts you this badly." Vanitas sighed before he admitted drily, "To be fair, most things cause me pain to some degree or another. I'm kind of resigned to it. As I'm sure I've mentioned, I'm kind of a mess." "Then let us help you," Kairi pleaded, "Please." The older boy looked at the girls tiredly before swept his gaze over the other kids and realized they all felt the same. He laughed weakly and shook his head, "I'm sorry, guys…but I have to deal with this myself. Trust me, I've thought about talking it out, but…it wouldn't help. There's just too much... I'll either get over it on my own…or I'll just learn to live with it. I'll admit that it's a struggle at times, and that at others it hurts like hell, but this really isn't something you can _help_ with." He trailed off and sighed, "But if you really feel like you _have_ to be doing _something_ …then just don't give up on me. Don't treat me like I'm about to break. I _hate_ being pitied and having people _constantly_ worrying about me. Just keep being there. Knowing that you all have my back," he gave a faint smirk, "that's enough."

Sora was shocked by his older brother's confession, and more than a little ashamed. It suddenly occurred to him that his blatant concern had probably contributed to Vanitas' loss of control. The older boy was currently trying to pry the two girls' arms off of his torso, but wasn't having much luck. "Okay, you can let go now," he finally griped, "I'm about as close to stable as I ever get. Seriously, get off!" Namine and Kairi shared another look before they released their grip. The Darkness wielder shook his arms out and turned back around with an expression of mixed annoyance and exhaustion plastered on his face. "What is with people hugging me today," he grumbled as he ran a hand through his hair before he sighed tiredly, "Fuck. Why am I so tired…?" Roxas darted forward to catch his friend as he started to collapse, "Vanitas?! Hey, what's wrong?!" The dark-haired boy blinked hard a few times and shook his head, "Huh… Must've over did it…. Always did wear me out when I pushed past my limits…" Sora started, "I remember you telling me that! It was reason number two!" Vanitas smiled tiredly as he sagged off of his blonde friend's shoulder before shaking his head again. "Yep, I over did it," he mumbled, "Vision keeps fuzzing up…" Riku frowned worriedly, "It hasn't affected your Heart, has it?" "Nah," the exhausted boy slurred, "N'ver does… M' Darkness 's weird… Ignores m' H'rt… S'm't'mes tw'chs t'w'rds oth'rs though… 'S annoyin'…" The silver-haired boy gaped at his semi-conscious best friend's words; it was pretty clear that this was something he'd never admit if he was fully aware.

Vanitas yawned widely as his eyelids fluttered, "I'm jus' gonna…sleep f'r a bit… So tired…" He then promptly dropped off into a deep sleep; Roxas carefully lowered his slumbering friend to the ground and rolled him onto his back. Ventus frowned worriedly, "Why is he so tired? I'm not sure I get it." "I don't know if this is normal or not," Sora admitted, "but calling on the Darkness drains my brother physically. He can only channel so much in one day before he risks overdoing it. I don't know what his current limits are though... Um, I know it takes a lot to summon Portal to the Dark Corridors and travel them safely, and he used it multiple times today... Plus there was that illusion trick… Then his control slipped, which is honestly a first, and his power started lashing out… I dunno." Riku rubbed the bridge of his nose, "It's not supposed to tire you out physically. For most wielders, overuse means that their control starts to slip and the Darkness can start to consume their Heart. But, as Vanitas just admitted, his doesn't for some reason. Theoretically, he _should_ have _no_ limits if that is the case. Does he have any ideas as to why using the Darkness too much tires him out?" The brunette tapped his chin in thought, "Um…I think I remember him saying something about how he thought it was because he was still too young. The older he gets the more Darkness he can channel. You'd have to ask him when he wakes up."

"You really think he'd be willing to share that," Roxas asked skeptically. Sora shrugged, "The only reason he never said anything about the Darkness before was because he was scared you guys would reject him. He's always been a bit paranoid. I mean, he was convinced that _Kairi_ would be mean to him when they first met because of who her parents were. No offense." "None taken," Kairi responded drily, "I can't say I blame him. My parents are jerks." "Anyways," the brunette continued, "Vanitas has no reason to hold back about that anymore. So he won't. I mean, I'm sure there are other things he's still holding back." "He did confess to that earlier today," Riku admitted, "He seems to have it in his head that if he told us everything that it'd hurt us. And after that little outburst…I'm a bit more inclined to believe that now than I was earlier. It's no wonder he'd advanced so much further than me in our Darkness training. Not with _that_ much negativity fueling him. His Darkness must be _immense_." "He's that strong," Ventus marveled. "If _I'm_ a hearth-fire," the silver-haired boy stated calmly, "Then _he's_ a bonfire. There's a pretty big gap between our current capabilities." Namine frowned in confusion, "How are you so calm about this? With that rivalry of yours I'd expect this to be driving you crazy…" The aqua-eyed boy shrugged and smirked, "Eh, I'm keeping pace. Besides I'm only _half_ -Dark. Once I work out how to use my Light powers that gap is gonna be history."

The conversation stalled as Vanitas hummed in his sleep and rolled over onto his side without awakening. Roxas shook his head in disbelief at how comfortable the older boy looked as he lay on the hard paving stones, and admitted as much. Sora scratched his head, "Well, it's probably more comfortable than the closet Akira made him sleep in. That thing was pretty cramped. Plus he had all of his clothes in there too… Considering he managed to put up with that for around three years he can probably sleep anywhere and find it more comfortable than that." The other kids flinched at the brunette's casual delivery of that little fact. "That's….messed up," Ventus managed as he stared at the sleeping boy. "Yeah," the younger Yagami agreed, "but at least things are better now!" Namine bit her lip as she recalled Vanitas' admission that first day they really interacted and spoke up, "I'm…not so sure your brother agrees." The other kids turned to look at the apprentice healer as she continued, "Roxas, do you remember what he said last summer? About being orphans?" Roxas' eyes widened before he frowned, "Yeah, I do. He said it wasn't much better than being abused. 'Guilt, grief, and all that' were his exact words." Kairi looked worried, "He's _still_ grieving?!" Sora cringed a bit before he admitted, "To be fair, so am I a little. I still miss Mom…" Riku reached out at patted his younger best friend on the shoulder, "It's okay to miss her. That's perfectly normal." Ventus waved his hand to attract the others attention, "Uh, I'm still a little worried by what your brother may have meant by being orphans being only a little better than being abused. How does that work?" Namine and the older Harris twin shared a look before the blonde girl spoke, "I think it means…that his emotions are torturing him just as much as Akira used to."

Sora paled as he considered that. " _That's_ why he's keeping his end of the link clamped down," came his horrified realization, "Oh, Vanitas…" The brunette's Heart _ached_ at the realization making his brother twitch in his sleep as it registered. Riku sighed in resignation, "And he asked us not to worry about him… He really _does_ care more about our well-being than his own, doesn't he?" Most of the other kids looked puzzled at the silver-haired boy's words, but Roxas winced. "He won't let us help him," the blonde boy stated, "because he'd rather suffer than cause us pain. It's not that he doesn't _want_ our help. It's that he can't accept that _we're_ willing to share his pain. He doesn't think we should hurt because of him. Am I right?" The aqua-eyed boy nodded solemnly which caused the older twin's expression to darken. "Well, he can forget that," he growled, "I'll keep pushing. He's my friend, damn it, and I am _not_ letting him sacrifice his own well-being for no reason!" "Same here," Riku folded his arms, "I'm not losing one of my best friends because he's choosing to be stupidly noble." Ventus sighed, "I would…but I'm pretty sure I'd only make things worse. He still hates my guts." "Eh, he doesn't hate you," Sora offered, "He just doesn't _like_ you. His reaction to Akira? That's hate. You just annoy him for some reason." "Why," Ven wondered, "I stopped bothering him when he goes off on his own." "I dunno," the brunette shrugged, "I'm not sure he does either." "He doesn't," Roxas confirmed, "And that also annoys him. Which makes him lash out even more I think." The kids all looked at the peacefully sleeping boy and sighed in unison. "He may be peaceful when he's asleep," the silver-haired boy chuckled, "But, man, does Vanitas cause us all sorts of headaches when he's awake." "Aw, we love him anyways," Kairi smiled warmly. The rest of the group nodded in agreement; yeah, they all loved their infuriating friend. That's why they would always support him; even if he continued pushing them away they would always be there.

 **A/N:** This chapter was getting long, so we are going to be doing a direct continuation next chapter. That's right. There will be _no_ time skip! Also…I GOT TO USE IT! That bit where Vanitas explodes and the paragraph after it? That's one of the times he got away from me last chapter. It was too good not to use, so I saved it and put it in here. I had to edit it a bit to make it fit, but it worked _so_ much better here. Particularly with the build-up. I had another one of those moments this time. Unfortunately, it didn't fit in this chapter, so I am saving it for later. I love writing these guys! They keep surprising me. I wasn't expecting some of the things they said after Vanitas fell asleep to come out, but omygosh they work so _well_! I love these characters! I love writing! I love this story! I am just having so much fun with this! Ahem, sorry. Got a bit carried away there. The reason for the sudden loss of control on Vanitas' part comes down to stress, plain and simple. He'd been fretting about whether to come clean about his abilities for _years_. The explosion had actually been building for a while. Add the accumulated stress to the fact that he was still technically recovering from the attack he'd had earlier (he may not have shown visible signs, but he was still being affected by it), the fact that Vanitas is prone to sudden mood swings, and Kairi's ill-timed remark… That outburst was pretty much inevitable. Finally, here are the translations of the slurred Vanitas speak: "Never does… My Darkness is weird… Ignores my Heart… Sometimes twitches towards others though… It's annoying…" Followed by: "I'm just gonna…sleep for a bit… So tired." After re-reading it a few times I realized working out what he said there could be a bit tricky. Considering the first bit is actually kind of important… It needed to be clarified. Anyways, I'm gonna get started on the next chapter. See you next time!


	16. To Wield Darkness

**A/N:** And now to pick up where we left off. Vanitas is going to wake up and there are going to be questions. And demonstrations of what he can do. And my main protagonist being stubborn. He's also probably going to hijack my writing again, too. He keeps _doing_ that… Also the Unversed want to come in _now_ , so I'm going to change my plans a bit and have their existence be revealed to the gang this time. I was won over by a mental image of ten-year old Kairi cuddling a Flood. It was too cute. Imagine Kairi somewhere in height between her BbS appearance and her appearance in the original KH. Now stick her in a larger version of the dress she's wearing in Birth by Sleep. Now add in a Flood being cuddled. And it's _purring_. You see why I couldn't resist? My imagination is evil and likes to derail my plans. And now Vanitas is laughing at me… My mindscape is such a strange place… Well, let's continue.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 15: To Wield Darkness

Vanitas twitched and yawned as he woke up from his abrupt nap; golden-yellow eyes fluttered open as he stretched and flipped up to his feet. 'I needed that,' he mused as he brushed himself off before he looked up and noticed his friends watching him. He blinked, "What? Why are you all staring at me?" Roxas sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "We just had a large number of bombshells dropped on us in fairly short sequence. Then you suddenly fall asleep on us. Leaving us free to talk about said bombshells, and come to several realizations you would probably rather we hadn't." The dark-haired boy blinked again, "Ah. Guess that means its distraction time." Sora's eyes widened as a mischievous grin spread across his brother's face, "Vanitas _don't_ -" "Too late," the older boy snapped his fingers and a small group of Floods popped up in the middle of the courtyard. "So," Vanitas smirked, "among my many talents, it turns out I can use the Darkness to turn my emotions into monsters called Unversed. These ones are called Floods. They like getting head scratches and biting people. Have fun getting acquainted!" 'Keep them occupied until they forget about my little outburst and admission,' he ordered the Floods, 'You're free to use whatever tricks you want aside from inflicting pain. That means no biting. Not even a friendly nibble. These guys are my friends, and there _will_ be consequences if they are hurt!' *Okay master,* the Floods replied in unison before they turned on the cute.

The small Unversed started scampering about like oversized kittens, and a few cuddled up to the girls with pleading expressions on their faces. Kairi and Namine were lost. "Aw, they're so cute," the red-head exclaimed as she reached down to pet the Floods huddled around her feet. The blonde had simply crouched down and started cuddling with them while dealing out head scratches; the Floods were in sheer bliss. The boys proved a bit more resistant…then a Flood climbed up Ventus' leg, up his back, perched on his shoulder, and started messing with his hair. "Hey," Ven protested as he tried to shove the small Unversed off, "Quit it!" The Flood ignored him and crawled on top of his head where it promptly flopped and fell asleep. The other three boys stared at the frolicking Unversed, then at the cooing girls, then at the ticked off younger Harris twin, and then at the smirking Vanitas. "I'm pretty sure that this counts as cheating," Riku managed. The older boy shrugged, "And I care why? If it gets me out of answering awkward questions then, fuck yeah, I'm gonna cheat like crazy. Speaking of…" A Dark Corridor swirled open behind the ebony-haired boy as he raised his hand in a mocking wave, "See ya!" He then ducked in before the Portal snapped shut…leaving an exasperated trio of boys behind.

"Sora," Roxas deadpanned five minutes later as a Flood nuzzled into his neck. "Yeah," the brunette responded as he scratched a familiar Flood just behind the antenna/ear things. "Your brother is an evil genius," the blonde continued, "You realize that, right?" "I dunno," Riku mused as he looked down at the Flood dozing on his foot, "I wouldn't say he's evil. Mischievous as hell, but not evil. And I'm not sure I'd call him a genius, either. I will admit that this was a really effective plan, though." It had worked out pretty well as a distraction. The two girls were totally besotted with the small, playful Unversed and the creatures themselves were happily soaking up every last scrap of attention. Ventus was sulking as several more of the Floods had apparently decided their companion had the right idea and had promptly tackled him to the ground; they then proceeded to turn him into their personal mattress and fell asleep. The first Flood had repositioned itself on the boy's chest after the mass tackle knocked it off and gone back to sleep as well. The annoyed younger twin was effectively pinned to the ground by a pile of sleeping Floods and muttering dire threats against Vanitas when he returned. As for the other three, several of the small Unversed had decided they liked Riku and kept cuddling up to him; one had even fallen asleep on his foot. Another Flood had recognized Sora as its official Giver of Head Scratches and proceeded to remind him of that claim; the brunette had submitted as he remembered the other two positions it had wanted him to hold the first time it was summoned. The last Flood had become utterly fixated on Roxas, and started loving up on him in an attempt to win the older twin over; it wasn't working so well.

The younger Yagami shrugged in response to his best friend's comment, "He has a knack for those. Remember how little time it took him to drive Ms. Kaitou to a nervous breakdown after he started _trying_? Once my brother sets his mind on something…good luck stopping him." The older blonde sighed in exasperation as he plucked the annoyingly affectionate Unversed off of his shoulder and held it in his arms, "I've noticed that. Fine, I'll amend it from evil genius to annoyingly devious and stubborn asshole." "…The sad thing is that fits him so well," Riku admitted. Sora sighed, "Yep…" Vanitas chose this moment to return through another Dark Portal and was happily eating an ice cream bar. "So," he drawled as he took in the scene, "You willing to not pester me with awkward questions, yet?" "If we say yes," Roxas grumbled, "Will you call these guys off?" "Only if you promise to never bring the matter up," the dark-haired boy replied as he took another bite out of his sweet treat, " _ever_ again. Also…I can always call these guys up again and set them on you if you break your word. Fair warning." The three boys looked at each other and sighed before they turned back to the older boy with matching resigned expressions on their faces. "We," the blonde gritted out, " _promise_ we won't bother you with questions related to what we worked out. That's all you're getting though." "Good enough," the older boy shrugged as he finished his ice cream.

Vanitas raised his left hand and snapped; the Unversed scattered across the courtyard all perked up and scampered over to their eleven-year old master. 'So how'd it go,' he asked as they gathered around. *We got so much _love_ ,* the Floods who targeted the girls sighed happily. *We found a new bed,* the ones who slept on Ventus squeaked. *I love my Giver of Head Scratches,* Sora's stalker sighed in contentment, *He always gets just the right spot…* *We like the silver one,* the Unversed who spent their time with Riku commented, *He smells nice.* *The yellow one doesn't like me,* the one who was obsessed with Roxas whined, *Make him like me!* 'I can't make people like you,' he replied to the last Flood, 'Which yellow one?' *That one,* the Flood pointed to the older twin as it sulked, *I was nice! I didn't bite at all! All I did was nuzzle and cuddle!* The dark-haired boy glanced at his friend and pointed to the petulant Unversed, "So is there a reason you don't like this Flood , Roxas?" "Is there a reason you don't like my twin," the blonde countered. "Touché," Vanitas smirked, "But that's not an answer. It won't stop whining, and I'd rather not absorb a sulky Flood. It tends to put me in a bad mood. I'd prefer to avoid that if I can." The older blonde threw up his hands and snapped back, "Fine! It's not that I don't like it, I'm just really annoyed with you right now!" "We'll talk about your misplaced aggression issues later," the older boy deadpanned, "So will you apologize to my Unversed?" "Fine," Roxas growled, "I'm sorry for ignoring you in favor of plotting revenge against my jerk friend. But he deserves it." *So he doesn't hate me,* the Flood squeaked happily, *Yay!* "And that solves that," the golden-eyed boy grinned as he waved his hand causing the crowd of Unversed to dissolve into a dark cloud that swirled and flowed back into him. A dark haze surrounded him for a few moments before it faded away as the emotions seeped back into his Heart making the boy twitch slightly. "Still feels weird," he muttered. The Darkness wielder then shrugged his shoulders and focused back on his friends, "So did you guys have fun with my Floods?" "They are _so_ cute," Kairi grinned as Namine nodded enthusiastically in agreement. "Vengeance," Ven growled as he glared at the older boy, "I will have it." "Keep telling yourself that, idiot," Vanitas smirked before he turned towards the final three. "Eh, I guess it was nice to see the Little Guy again," Sora shrugged. "Did you have to blackmail us," Riku groaned. "If it gets me what I want," his older best friend's smirk widened, "You bet." He then glanced at his blonde friend, "And you?" Roxas gave the older boy a flat stare, "….You're an annoyingly devious and stubborn asshole. There will be pay back. Mark me." "Consider it marked," the black-haired boy bowed mockingly with a broad grin. Little did his friends realize that their older friend was firmly in the grips of a sugar rush from consuming several ice cream bars while he waited for his Floods to do his job. Unfortunately, he could be a bit…psychotic when he was hyper. For the moment, he was still managing to hold off the worst of it; he was still grinning like a maniac though.

Vanitas was still grinning broadly as he leaned against a nearby column with his arms folded across his chest while he waited for the three who had been fully distracted to realize they couldn't ask him any _revealing_ questions; it didn't take long." "So," Ventus started, "Are you-" Sora placed his hand on his friend's shoulder and coughed awkwardly, "Actually…we kind of can't ask any of the questions we decided on while he was out…" "Why not," the younger twin was startled. "Blackmail," Roxas and Riku replied in unison before the older of the two continued, "He'll set the Unversed on us again. And I kind of doubt it'd actually be the Floods this time…" "How many types are there," Ven sputtered. "Technically," the dark-haired boy replied with an evil grin, "as many as I can come up with. Currently, though, I've only managed to manifest ten varieties. The Floods, Scrappers, Bruisers, Red-Hot Chilis, Blue Sea-Salts, Yellow Mustards, Archravens, Mandrakes, Hareraisers, and Thornbites." "What are the other nine like," Namine asked. It was the silver-haired boy who responded, "Scrappers are about five feet tall, skinny, a sickly sort of bluish-green, and have huge, dangerous looking claws. Bruisers are closer to six-feet, kind of look like a fat boxer, and are a sort of dark bluish-purple. Red-Hot Chilis are maybe a foot and a half tall, are sort of blackish-red with orange highlights, and look like pots with red slits for eyes on the front. Blue Sea-Salts are the same size and shape as the Red-Hot Chilis, and are blue with black patches on the lids and a large white patch on the bottom. They also have red slits for eyes though theirs are more curved in a sort of happy shape. Yellow Mustards are pretty much identical to the last two aside from color and eye shape. Their eyes are angry-looking slits and are yellow and black. Archravens look like large birds with a two-foot wingspan, and are black and gray. Mandrakes ate about one and a half feet tall, look kind of like a plant with feet and a head, and are a sort of yellowish-green and white. Hareraisers are maybe a foot or so tall, kind of look like a demented rabbit, and are purple with grayish-red on the ends of their ears. Finally, Thornbites are maybe two feet tall, look like a demented potted plant with thorny whips that it uses as arms, and are black and green" "Made of guilt, anger, frustration, nostalgia, impatience, vindictiveness, fear, anxiety, and wrath respectively," Vanitas followed up, "Floods are irritation. They used to be a different emotion, but I decided _that_ particular feeling didn't fit the little guys. So I changed it." Kairi frowned, "Those are all negative emotions…" "Negativity is a lot easier to work with," the older boy replied, "I _think_ I can make Unversed out of positive emotions. I just haven't worked out how to yet. I still need more practice. Ask me again in a few years." He was still grinning. "Is there a limit to how many you can create at once," Ventus prodded. "Not that I've found," the black-haired boy's grin darkened a bit, "Who knows? I might have an infinite army of monsters borne of emotion on my side." He threw his head back and laughed at the horrified expression on the younger twin's face as he considered that mental image. The other kids winced at his laugh; it hadn't really gotten much worse from the last time, but it still sounded dark and maniacal. "Vanitas," Sora scolded, "Stop trying to scare him." "But he makes it so easy," Vanitas whined playfully, "and it's _funny_!" "Your sense of humor is also beyond messed up," the brunette deadpanned. "Can't deny that," his older brother mused with a soft grin.

Roxas sighed, "So what else can you do besides make Unversed." "So-o-o-o much," the golden-eyed boy drawled. "Just how much ice cream did you eat," Riku finally exclaimed. The ebony-haired boy tilted his head to the side, while still grinning, and hummed thoughtfully for a few moments before he responded, "I kind of lost track once the sugar rush kicked in, but I'm pretty sure it was around ten or fifteen bars." The other kids paled and edged away from the other boy. "We," Kairi deadpanned," are in trouble aren't we?" "Vanitas is on a sugar high," his younger brother moaned, "Trouble is an understatement." "I'm not that bad," the hyper Darkness wielder protested though his complaint was not helped by the giddy grin still on his face, "I just need to burn off some energy! Besides I thought you guys wanted to see what all I am capable of! There's a valley I go to for practicing! It's the one place I can really cut loose without causing mass amounts of property damage! We can take a Dark Corridor! I'm good enough at the shielding thing that you won't even have to worry about the effects! Plus you have Riku! He can help! Please? I really need to burn this excess off! I'm getting a bit twitchy! You do _not_ want me to be twitchy!" "We really don't," Sora added, "trust me. If you think this is bad you should see what he's like once the full force of the rush hits. All in favor of getting a free demo of what my brother can really do say 'aye'!" The 'ayes' were unanimous which made Vanitas sigh happily in relief. "Thanks," he grinned, "I was getting worried." "You don't look worried," Ventus commented. "I also can't stop grinning," came the dry response, "My cheeks are kind of starting to hurt. Remind me never to eat that much sugar in once sitting again." "Will do," his younger brother and Riku promised in unison.

Vanitas glanced at Riku while, unfortunately, still grinning, "I'll take three and you take two. Sound good?" "Yeah," the silver-haired boy sighed, "I can handle that." The older boy managed to twist his grin into a smirk as he snapped his fingers and a thin aura of Darkness swirled up to coat Sora, Roxas, and Namine in a protective veil. The aqua-eyed Darkness wielder rolled his eyes before closing them in order to concentrate; he raised his hands and focused on drawing a protective film of Darkness out to cover his remaining two friends. His power responded tentatively at first before it suddenly surged to comply with his desire. His finished shields weren't quite as smooth-looking as his older friend's versions were, in that they rippled and billowed a lot, but they did the job. "Remind me to give you some pointers later," his black-haired fellow wielder grinned as he called up his own thin haze of a shield before opening a Portal, "Let's go!" The kids all followed the oldest member of their group into the Dark Corridors and were slightly taken aback by its appearance. The 'ground' was little more than a swirling black and purple mass of slightly denser Darkness while the 'air' swirled blue and black around them. There was a faint glow that permeated the air allowing them to see maybe three feet ahead. Most unnerving of all, there was a low rushing noise that ebbed and flowed constantly. "Don't stop," Vanitas ordered idly, "and don't look back. Just keep moving forwards." "Why," Namine asked uneasily. The older boy shot back a menacing grin, "The Dark Corridors skirt along the edge of the Realm of Darkness. Some even link up to it. Light dwellers like us don't belong here, so the best thing we can do is keep moving…before those who lurk in the Dark take notice. You don't want to get trapped here, do you?"

The blonde girl paled and shook her head rapidly which prompted their unofficial leader to soften his grin to a kind smile before he continued, "Then stay close and don't stop moving forwards. I can keep you safe. Trust me." The Darkness wielder then turned and started walking briskly down the indistinct path in front of him; the others followed closely behind having taken his words to Heart. Kairi bit her lip uneasily as they traveled onwards. "How long will we be in here," she asked nervously. "Not long," the taller boy replied, "maybe half-an-hour at most. This road is a straight shot to a valley in the Ten'no Mountains. If we went over land it would take several days with all the terrain to deal with. We're pretty much traveling as the crow flies and bypassing all of that." "We can't maintain this pace for that long," Ventus protested. "We're actually traveling faster than you think," Vanitas admitted, "I…may have cheated and used the Darkness to augment your guys' speed and endurance to half my current level. We're actually traveling at half my full speed. You just can't tell because there are no landmarks you guys can use as a gauge. If we were going at your actual base speed we'd be walking for a full day, and I am _not_ gonna be able to hold off the bulk of this sugar rush for that long." "Wait," Roxas gaped, "You're holding some of it off? How?!" "Same way I managed to score a direct hit on Akira's heart when I was on the verge of passing out from a combination of pain, emotional shock, blood loss, and lack of air," the older boy responded lightly, "Sheer bloody-minded stubbornness. My mind can basically over-rule my body for a limited span of time. The exact amount varies by circumstance. Right now I can last maybe an hour more. Holding off a sugar rush is a lot easier than holding off imminent death." "I've said it once and I'll say it again," Kairi deadpanned, "It is _really_ creepy how you talk so casually about what happened." "Meh," came the amused reply, "Helps me cope."

True to the eleven-year old's words they noticed a faint light in the distance that swiftly grew close to a half-an-hour after they entered the Dark Corridors. Vanitas paused and gestured for the other kids to pass ahead of him at the light; he looked back the way they'd come as his friends exited the Corridor with a dark smirk. "Too bad for you guys," he breathed as his enhanced senses homed in on something in the distance, "I'm more than capable of killing you… Stick around and watch if you don't believe me…" He then turned and stepped through the Portal himself before dismissing it, and the shields he'd conjured, casually. "I have no idea if this valley has an actual name," he announced as he strolled to the edge of the ledge they were standing on, "and to be honest I don't really care. I just call it the Valley of Release." "Why's that," Sora asked curiously. His older brother glanced back with a wild grin on his face, "Because this is the _only_ place I can release my full power without worrying about the consequences. You guys stay up here where it's safe. I'm gonna go down to the valley floor so I can vent." He snapped his fingers to conjure up a Dark Shield around the ledge before he dove off of the edge. The other kids gasped and ran to the ledge only to realize they could no longer see him. Seconds later a rock shattered and they caught a glimpse of their friend crouched as though he had just landed before his image flickered and faded. They soon realized that what they had seen was an after image; Vanitas was moving so fast that they only way they could track his progress to the valley floor was through these infrequent illusions. Eventually he stopped moving as he reached the bottom of the steep-walled valley. He was little more than a speck from their perspective, so they couldn't see what he was actually doing; the results, however, were plainly obvious.

Eruptions of pure Darkness soon erupted from the ground and raced half-way up the valley walls before they progressed in a wall down the valley for about fifty feet before one final blast caused a rock-slide as the slope crumbled. Soon a burst of Dark explosions that caused the walls to shake pounded another section of the valley walls into rubble. The next phase was a storm of what were clearly Dark Firas that eagerly consumed the available vegetation . Soon the distant figure moved on to calling down a sequence of Dark Thundaras that shook the air with a series of sharp cracks. This was followed by swirling blizzard of Darkness infused ice that swept across the valley floor: Dark Blizzara. The distant speck started to move again after this as it slowly ascended one of the piles of rubble in a series of leaps and bounds. They soon could make out their friend pulling off complex acrobatic flips and hand-springs as he ascended before he reached a sheer section of cliff face. This didn't deter the boy as he raised his hands and fired off a series of compact Dark Auras all the way up to the top of the face. He then climbed the face as he launched from hand-hold to hand-hold; Vanitas was a blur as he ascended before he flipped over the top and turned to look down into the valley. They could actually see his face now and it was focused into a look of extreme concentration. His eyes blazed brilliantly as he raised his hands once more; a swarm of crystals materialized in front of him and started to crackle unpleasantly with Dark power. The swarm suddenly screamed down to the valley floor and impacted sharply with the ground. The entire valley floor was engulfed in a cloud of Darkness that lingered for a good thirty seconds before fading. Finally the boy dove off of the cliff and free-fell all the way down before he slammed his fist into the ground – not that his friends could see that, though they did see what happened next – causing a wave of Dark Spires to radiate outwards from the point of impact. That was the end of his display, and he slowly made his way back up to where he'd left the others.

"So," Vanitas asked casually as he pulled himself up back up onto the ledge, "What did you think?" Riku stared at his older best friend, "A little warning before you decide to fall off a cliff would be nice." His voice was tight with worry as he spoke which prompted the older boy to roll his eyes. "Falls stopped effecting me when I was eight," he snorted, "I can pretty much fall or jump from any height and not suffer any damage." "Are all of your moves so…destructive," Namine whispered as she watched the rising dust obscure the valley floor. "Only my offensive ones," the black-haired boy admitted, "Plus my full strength can be pretty damaging. See?" He picked up a rock lying on the ledge and lazily crushed it into gravel with one hand. "I can pretty much switch between full power and human levels of strength at will these days. I don't even have to think about it anymore. Same with my speed," the boy shrugged as he dusted his hands off. "What else can you do," Roxas glanced at his friend inquisitively. Vanitas hummed softly before he started listing his remaining skills off, "Aside from the enhanced speed and strength, all of my senses are augmented by Darkness. I've been able to see clearly in near low-light conditions since I was seven or so, but now I can see in total darkness just as clearly as I can at noon. Admittedly, I can't see color in those conditions, but still: darkvison. I can smell the Darkness and Light in people's Hearts now. That happened last year. I wouldn't say natural Darkness smells like parsley though. That has a green smell to it on top of the bitterness. I guess if you took away that though…yeah there is a hint of parsley-ish bitterness to it. Light is a lot more varied. Some people smell flowery, some people smell fruity, and some smell kind of like grass. It's weird. I can also hear really well, which you've all probably noticed. That kicked in when I was nine."

Vanitas took a deep breath before he continued, " What else…? I suppose there's the Dark Veil which basically masks my presence and was my first technique. I'm totally silent when I use that and my form is apparently really blurred. I can use the Darkness to create illusions. That grew from another ability that I can use to dim light sources to a more tolerable level. I just call it Dark Mist. There's Dark Cure. I'm not so good at healing or defensive spells so Cura is still beyond me. There's the Portals to access the Dark Corridors and the shields for traveling through them. The Dark Shield which was one of my first techniques. Hmmm. I can create and control the Unversed. I'm working on calling forth a suit of armor made of pure Darkness, but the most I've managed to date is a pair of gauntlets. No idea what the full article will look like, yet. I don't get tired easily. I always know exactly where the limits of my abilities are. I hardly, if ever, get sick thanks to my overpowered immune system. Oh, and I heal insanely fast from all injuries. If it doesn't kill me within the first few hours then it's not going to kill me at all." "How fast do you heal," Kairi asked. Vanitas shrugged and drew a line across his left side from just under his arm pit to just below his sternum. "Akira tried beating me to death with a shovel once and managed to open a deep gash in my side from here to here. You could see the bone. Normally this would need stitches and take several weeks to heal. It had healed and scarred over by noon the next day," he explained drily, " _That's_ how fast." Sora flinched, "I remember that one… It wouldn't stop bleeding. I had to use a _ton_ of bandages, and it was really gross seeing your ribs…" "Sorry," the older boy shrugged, "Couldn't exactly prevent it at the time. At least I'm not dead." "And I love your powers for that," the brunette stated flatly. "I know you do," his brother flashed a quick grin his way before he looked at the other kids again, "Any other questions?"

Ventus raised his hand which made the older boy snort in amusement before he nodded in acknowledgement. "How long…," Ven asked haltingly, "How long have you been able to do this?" "Since I was two," Vanitas responded flatly, "And I've only had instruction in 'doing this' since I woke up from my coma. Prior to that I was working entirely off of instinct. The Dark Shield, Dark Veil, Dark Mist, Dark Aura, Dark Spires, enhanced speed and strength, healing factor, resistance to disease, _and_ falling damage all kicked in or were _personally_ developed _by me_ during those six years. In all that time I never _once_ lost control…even when faced with Akira's worst. I _don't_ take chances with my powers because I have always _instinctively_ known just how _deadly_ I can be." Finally, Roxas asked one last question, "Just how much power can you channel at once?" "Currently," the ebony-haired boy replied, "I have enough raw power at my disposal that I could probably turn this entire peninsula into a crater if my Darkness ever got away from me. The most draining technique I've got is probably the one with the crystals, and I can use it about ten times consecutively before my endurance gives out. That equates to opening ten Dark Portals an hour for six hours. Both my reserves and my endurance keep growing every year, though, so who knows how powerful I'll get. Honestly, it kind of freaks me out. What if it keeps growing until I have enough power to shatter the world?" He shuddered slightly and hugged himself tightly at that. "I don't _want_ to be _that_ powerful," the golden-eyed boy admitted, " _ever_. It's _way_ too much responsibility! It's…scary." He closed his eyes with that final confession and bit his lip before his eyes snapped open in surprise at his blonde friend's reply. "Don't be," the older twin smirked, "You reined yourself back in earlier, and from what I've seen so far your control is nothing to laugh at. Besides, if you ever start to feel yourself slipping again you can come to us and we'll pull you back. That's what friends are for." Vanitas blinked in surprise before he slowly grinned, "Right that settles it. You are now officially my best friend after Riku. Seriously, though, you just found out I'm basically a walking arsenal and potential time bomb. Does _nothing_ faze you?" "Oh, I'd say I was pretty fazed earlier when you pulled that trick with the Unversed and blackmailed us," his newly minted best friend replied dryly, "And I really do intend to get you back for that." "Which is why I like you," the older boy smirked as he relaxed, "You don't just take the shit I pull. You get even. I respect that." "We have such a strange friendship," the older blonde sighed. "No stranger than his and mine," Riku broke in, "I mean, how many injuries have we given each other while sparring?" "I dunno," the golden-eyed boy shrugged, "I lost count at 100…and that was five years ago." The three boys looked at each other and started laughing. "We…are so messed up," Roxas giggled. "Heh, yeah," Vanitas snickered, "isn't it great?"

Kairi shook her head at the boys in exasperation, "Really? Is this really the time or place? We're still out in the middle of nowhere and it's gonna be dark in a few more hours. Also I can see more storm clouds rolling in from here." Riku stifled his chuckles and looked at his older best friend, "She's right you know. We should probably head back." Vanitas snickered a bit more before he straightened up and nodded, "Yeah, okay. Same as before?" "You sure you can handle it," the silver-haired boy raised an eyebrow skeptically. "That nap fully recharged me," the older boy rolled his eyes, "and most of my little display earlier was fueled by a sugar rush. I'm not gonna drop again anytime soon." 'Besides,' he added internally as he conjured up his portion of the shields, 'The only reason I was so worn out in the first place was because of that attack I had earlier. I wasn't anywhere near my limits when I lost control, and still wasn't afterwards. I _was_ still drained from that attack though…and the extra strain pushed me over the edge… Not that I'm telling _anyone_ this, though. They'll only worry…and this is something they _really_ can't help with no matter _how_ much they may want to...' The older Darkness wielder waited on Riku to finish his shields before calling up the Dark Portal and heading back home. There was no conversation on the way back which left Vanitas free to concentrate on keeping his senses peeled for the threats that he _knew_ haunted the Dark Corridors. How else did people think Heartless got around? The trip back seemed to take a lot less time, and the golden-eyed boy was relieved that the Darkballs who'd been lurking around earlier had apparently wandered off in search of easier targets. Thank the Darkness that most Heartless were cowards who preferred to avoid or submit to those more powerful than they were. That display of his hadn't been _entirely_ for show. The group stepped back into the courtyard entirely unaware of their older friend's musings. Roxas glanced around with a frown, "Where's Touya? He was supposed to be here over an hour ago." Vanitas coughed awkwardly, "Um…I might have popped into his study earlier to let him know about the whole Darkness thing. He decided to reschedule our training session for tomorrow. Sorry." Kairi shrugged, "It's not like the day was a total waste. We still learned a lot about the Darkness and about what it can be used for. Plus we learned more about you, Van. You have way too many secrets." "And you aren't going to be finding them out any time soon," the older boy responded drily, "The only reason I slipped was because I had been driving myself to exhaustion fretting about whether I should reveal my status as a Darkness wielder or not. Kind of traumatized, you know."

The seven friends soon headed indoors and spent the last hour engaged in a game of 'Crazy Eights'; Ventus won the first round, but the ultimate winner was Namine. When her friends pressed her at how she got so good at card games all she said was, "Lots of experience. Baba and I play cards on slow days to pass the time." The fact was the demure blonde had an iron-clad poker face and was, in reality, a total card sharp. Roxas quipped back, "Remind me to never play poker against you." All she did was smile beatifically. After the game it was starting to get dark, so the other kids got ready to head back to their respective homes. They bid the other three farewell and soon the only ones left were Sora, Riku and Vanitas. "I think that went well," the brunette chirped as they cleaned up from the card game, "See? I knew you had nothing to worry about, Vani." "You really need to stop using that nickname," the older boy replied drily, "You're almost ten. It's getting ridiculous." "So you're just going to completely ignore his 'I told you so'," the silver-haired boy smirked as he packed away the cards." "Yep," the golden-eyed boy answered shortly while popping the 'p' at the end. The blue-eyed boy pouted at his older brother before smiling brightly, "You've gotten really strong though. What are you going to be working on in your lessons next?" "Hopefully, the Dark Armor," the dark-haired boy replied in an annoyed tone, "She said we could work on it when I'm older. Well, I'm older. I want to summon my own personal set of armor, dammit!" The other Darkness wielder shook his head and laughed lightly, "That would be pretty cool. You could wear it during training." "Exactly," the older wielder responded with a grin, "Just think how utterly badass _that_ would make our sparring sessions. I could even show you how to make your own!" "I'll pass," Riku waved his hand dismissively, "I'm fine with the normal stuff." "Killjoy," Vanitas grumbled. The trio soon finished cleaning up and spent the rest of the day playing video games in the silver-haired boy's room, reading textbooks – in Vanitas' case –, reading comic books – Riku and Sora –, and generally goofing off. They went to bed that night entirely content with how the day had gone.

 **A/N:** This chapter was a lot shorter than its predecessor, but I took care of everything I needed to. Also I kind of hate filler. On another note, I feel I should clarify that the Floods are maybe half the size they were in Birth by Sleep. They will actually be getting bigger as Vanitas does, so by the time he's fourteen they'll be the size they were in the game. There will still be at least one more chapter before the climax. I'm not bending on that. I think I'm going to work a bit more on defining this book's theme. I haven't been that subtle with what it is, I don't think, but just in case…it's prejudice and its repercussions. The theme impacts the main conflict for this book as well. Hopefully I can keep the next chapter interesting as I build up to the climax. I finally know how long it's going to be, now. It's going to cover two chapters. This is planned. I said it was going to be kind of drawn-out, didn't I? I wasn't lying. Anyways, I'll see you all next time.


	17. Lessons Learned

**A/N:** So this chapter is going to be partially me cramming a bit of background for the world itself. Specifically, history. Not ancient history, just within the past two or three hundred years. I know some of you might consider that to be ancient…but the world was reformed around 6,000 years ago…and the events of the games were 12,000 years ago. When I said this was set in the distant future of the KH canon universe…I _meant_ _ **distant**_ future. By comparison, two or three hundred years is nothing. Also it's not going to be world history, but only the history of the kingdom they live in: Lux. Yeah, I know. The name is unimaginative; its Latin for 'light'. It's still better than Diz-Nei which is pronounced 'Disney' or Ionia which is a collective name for the ancient Greek civilizations. I'm trying to stay _relatively_ close to the source material…even if I am taking a few creative liberties. Mostly my interpretations of Darkness and Light, the function Kingdom Hearts actually serves, and a few other things. Also going to highlight the contrast between how the Light and Darkness are viewed in Unmei. We've got three groups to cover: the students, our protagonist's parents/caretakers (with the exception of the Uchidas), and the rest of the villagers. I've realized I've mostly just been making vague references that there is a conflict, but I haven't really defined it. However, this is kind of relevant to the climax chapters…it needs to be dealt with. That means this chapter is gonna be on the long side…if it doesn't end up getting broken up into two chapters. We'll see how long it gets. Anyways let's begin, shall we?

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 16: Lessons Learned

"Who can tell me about the last major conflict in the history of Lux," Mr. Harris asked his class; it was the last month of the school year and he had a point he fully intended to drive home with a _sledgehammer_. Most of the class looked confused until Riku raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Shimomura," the teacher pointed to the silver-haired twelve-year old and grinned widely. "The Purge of the Accursed," the boy replied stoically; his other five friends flinched slightly. Vanitas had found a book on the topic close to four years ago when he'd been tutoring the original trio, and they all still remembered how horrified they'd been to learn what it contained. As for Roxas and Ventus…they grew up in the more settled half of the kingdom, so the history of the Purge was something they were well acquainted with. This was not going to be a pleasant lecture. "Correct," the golden-blonde haired man nodded, "Now who can tell me what the Purge was?" It was Kairi who answered this time, "Terrible!" "While you're not wrong," Mr. Harris gave her a kind smile, "that isn't the answer I was looking for. Anyone else?" By now the other students were suspecting that the six friends knew more than they did and watched them curiously to see who would answer next. They were disappointed; the group had clammed up simply because it was too horrific for them to talk about. "Roxas. Ventus. I _know_ you _both_ know the answer," their father stated drily, "Is there any reason in particular you're choosing to remain silent?" Ven replied reluctantly, "I'd…rather not say…" The history of the Purge had become a lot more personal since the two Darkness wielders in their group revealed their abilities, and thinking about that event now that they _knew_ two wielders _personally_ …it hurt. The teacher sighed, "Very well. The Purge of the Accursed was an effort by the 93rd King of Lux, King Andriss Ogata, to eradicate all those born with an affinity for Darkness, be they native born or just passing through, from his kingdom. Most of these people kept to themselves and didn't cause any trouble for anyone. Others patrolled the kingdom and kept their eyes out for Lumens which they killed on sight. Admittedly, there were a few nutcases that would pop up every couple of generations, but the Darkness wielders were apparently pretty effective at self-policing. Any wielder who went mad with power tended to be arrested, tried, and executed promptly by their community before they could cause any damage. King Andriss, however, felt that their Darkness was an affront to the purity of his kingdom's Light. He hated them simply for existing, and so hatched a plan to get rid of them." Vanitas and his friends cringed at that point; it hit a little too close to home for the older Yagami and those who knew his history.

Mr. Harris continued his lecture, "Now in order for the Purge to be successful, he needed his subjects to believe that the wielders were a clear and present danger to their safety. Sadly, this was not a hard lie for him to sell. The fact was this kingdom did, and in rural locations like here still does, have a problem with strong anti-Darkness sentiment. It was mostly superstition that he drew on to fabricate his threat. Primarily the mistaken belief that Darkness wielders deliberately create and control Heartless in order to spread their influence. This is, of course, entirely false. My own studies have proven that, while many Heartless _will_ obey a wielder whose power over the Dark is greater than theirs, they will also just as happily steal the Heart of whoever is controlling them. Furthermore, most wielders hold a strong antipathy for the Heartless. I confess I am not entirely sure why this is. For whatever reason, Darkness users simply do not like the Heartless and will have nothing to do with them. But I digress. King Andriss was also able to draw on the intense fear and hatred his subjects had for those who were different. Their prejudice. By twisting both superstition and prejudice to his own ends…he was able to launch one of the worst genocides ever to be recorded in history." One of the younger students raised his hand, "Mr. Harris? What's genocide?"

The teacher sighed as a pained expression flickered across his face, "Genocide, Mr. Fujita, is when an entire race, or in this case a sub-race, of people is murdered simply because they are different from the majority. Sometimes it is because they are a convenient scapegoat, others because they pose a problem to the current regime, and still others simply due to common greed. It is a terrible thing. Worse, in this instance, because not all of those born with a Darkness affinity can actually _use_ the Darkness." Sakura Takamori raised her hand with a frown on her face, "But don't all Dark wielders have an affinity for Darkness?" "They do," Mr. Harris replied, "but it is also possible to be born with a Dark affinity, but no powers. The number of actual wielders compared to people with an affinity for Darkness is less than half of that number. That means most of the victims of the Purge…could _not_ use the Darkness in any way, shape, or form. It was an utter tragedy." He paused and took a deep breath before he continued, "Most of the victims lived together in isolated communities. Several of these villages consisted of one major clan with a fair number of wielders among their number with several smaller families sheltering under their protection. King Andriss and his forces attacked these larger settlements first. They put entire villages to the torch and killed everyone. Entire families were cut down without anyone being spared. Even children like yourselves. There were no survivors of these initial attacks, but word still got out to the remaining targets. Several communities tried to evacuate before the Purge could reach them, but most couldn't get everyone out in time. Then they moved on to target the isolated homesteads…"

Mr. Harris paused briefly to look each of his students in the eye before he continued once more, "Out of the 50,000 individuals living in Lux with a Dark affinity at that time, 49,500 of them perished in the Purge. Only 500 individuals survived by fleeing to the neighboring kingdoms for sanctuary; they arrived with nothing but the clothes on their backs for they had left everything else behind in their flight. Those who lingered to pack even the barest of essentials…died. Of the 500 itinerant wielders who occasionally passed through the kingdom in their endless hunt to eradicate Lumens…they fared slightly better. Only 250 of them were killed in the Purge. The rest fled through the Darkness to safety before they could be caught. The one good thing to come out of this tragedy is that the Crown Prince at the time, who would go on to be crowned King Ianzin the Reformer, was so utterly horrified by the bloodshed that he vowed that he would never allow such a thing to happen again. It is because of his reforms, and those of his descendants, that Lux is slowly making the transition into a Balanced kingdom." "But how did they know who had a Dark affinity and who didn't," one horrified little girl asked, "They could have killed people with no connection to the Dark at all!"

"There are several physical traits," the teacher explained, "that distinguish those with an affinity for Darkness. The most notable of these is their eyes." Vanitas stiffened in dread as Mr. Harris continued unaware of the consequences his revelation could have for one of his students, "Those who have an affinity for the Dark typically have eyes that are some shade of gold. It can be brown-gold, orange-gold, reddish-gold, pale yellow-gold, dark golden-yellow, or the very rare bright golden-yellow which is also referred to in some texts as true gold." The _true gold_ -eyed boy shut his eyes in dismay, 'Well, I'm screwed.' "However, just because someone's eyes are gold," the teacher stated firmly, "does _not_ mean they can call on the Darkness. The most it indicates is that they have at least one relative, either recent or long ago, who had a Dark affinity. For example, our present King's eyes are brown-gold, but the Ogatas are a Light bloodline. However, I do believe his great-great grandmother was a quarter-Dark. Eye color alone is _not_ a reliable indicator." "Then how did they know," the same girl protested. "I mentioned several other traits, did I not," the golden-haired man replied in amusement, "They tend to have either very dark or very light hair colors. They also tend to be taller than average. Really though, what they relied on most were reports of people who could use Darkness. The physical traits were a secondary indicator." Vanitas relaxed slightly and opened his eyes, 'Okay, less screwed. Still…did he have to cover _that_? People are suspicious enough about me as is…'

"Now," Mr. Harris frowned sternly, "I am going to give you a two-part assignment. First, I want you to think _very hard_ about your own behavior. We've covered what prejudice is and what it looks like multiple times this year, so you should recognize the signs by now. I want you to examine your own actions and determine if there is _anyone_ in your life you have behaved unfairly to. Consider your reasons for your behavior. How well do you know this person? Has this person ever, in any way, deliberately harmed you or anyone you know for no reason? Do they have any criminal tendencies? If the answers are 'not very well' and 'no' then there is a good chance you are guilty of discrimination. Look to your parents as well and pay close attention to their behavior. Do you see _any_ of the same signs? Then, I want you to think about today's lesson, and the price _thousands_ of innocent people played because of such attitudes taken to an extreme, and I want you to ask yourselves one last question: Am I willing to let that happen again only this time to someone I know? Write a paper detailing your answer to this question. The assignment is due at the end of the week. I will not judge you for the answers you give. I will be grading on quality of writing, clarity of thought, and on tone. Those who choose write in a humorous tone will _not_ do well because this is a serious topic. There is a very good chance many of you will come to an uncomfortable revelation as a course of this project, but this is a lesson you _must_ learn. Prejudice is _dangerous_ and it is _part of your lives_! _You_ are the future of this village. Of this kingdom, and if you _don't_ learn from the lessons of the past…then the tragedy of the Purge may repeat itself one day."

Most of the class sat in uncertain silence as he finished detailing the assignment; Riku and the others looked at each other uneasily because they were more used to defending one of their number from _other's_ bigotry than dealing it out. Vanitas noticed their uncertainty and decided to take a chance. He raised his hand and waited for Mr. Harris to notice him. "What if," the black-haired boy asked in a chilly tone, "you've spent most of your life fighting back against or being the _target_ of that sort of behavior? Because I have a _lot_ I could write on that topic." His friends nodded to show that they could as well which made their teacher grin lightly. "In that case you can probably skip the self-examination and go straight to the big question," he replied amusedly, "Are you willing to let history repeat itself?" "Fuck no," the golden-eyed boy snorted before continuing blandly, "Besides I got enough of _that_ sort of treatment from Akira. Upside, the thought of my own death no longer fazes me. Downside, can't get away with not wearing long clothing because of all the fucking scars left behind by his murder attempts. By that standard, the constant onslaught of rumors and dirty looks is an improvement." "Will you stop being so calm about that," Kairi groaned. "I already told you," Vanitas replied evenly, "It's a coping mechanism." "It's a creepy coping mechanism," she muttered. "I could always deal with it by laughing," the twelve-year old smirked. The red-head froze, "On second thought, the apathy works. Your laugh is even worse." "You realize now I have to laugh, right," her older friend grinned impishly, "Just for the sake of effect." Sora groaned at his older brother's logic, "Stop trying to freak people out!" "Eh, if I'm gonna be hated anyway I might as well give people a reason for it," came the dry response before he threw his head back and laughed. The response was pretty much what could be expected; most of the class paled, shuddered, and tried to scoot away from the boy. His friends were the sole exceptions as they were thoroughly used to its dark and maniacal sound.

Sakura Takamori frowned to herself as the younger boy's creepy laugh died away and he grinned at his friends. Vanitas unnerved her quite frankly; he had those disturbingly predatory golden eyes, he swore too much, and he just didn't act _normal_. She'd never really liked the boy, but learning that someone had actually tried to kill him, and multiple times at that, honestly left her feeling horrified. That sort of thing just didn't _happen_ in Unmei! She couldn't quite believe that he wasn't exaggerating with the whole murder attempt claim, but she was willing to consider that he may have been abused. The golden-eyed boy was off, but now she had an inkling as to _why_ he was so strange. It made her sick to her stomach. Here she'd been judging him all these years, and it turns out he could potentially be a former abuse victim. She'd heard all the rumors surrounding the boy; her mother was a shameless gossip who delighted in sharing the latest news with her daughter. Sakura started to consider that maybe, just maybe, rumors and gossip were not the best source of information. None of them had even come close to hinting at the fact that the younger boy had been abused. The seventeen-year old girl decided then and there that she simply _had_ to know more about her enigmatic classmate; not because she liked him, but because that day's lecture had seriously disturbed her. The lecture had succeeded in finally driving home the fact that baseless prejudice and discrimination were horrible, but she still hadn't changed that much. Instead, she was of the opinion that if she was going to dislike someone then she needed a better reason for it than the ones she had. The platinum blonde-haired girl had made up her mind; as soon as free period arrived…she was going to confront Vanitas.

Free period arrived and the six friends had gathered in their usual corner to get started on their homework. Vanitas, as usual, was acting as the group tutor giving out pointers and providing clarifications to anyone who asked. Sakura waited patiently for the other kids to clear out and then made her move. "Hey, Yagami," she frowned, "I need to talk to you." "Uh," Sora wondered, "which of us are you referring to?" "Your brother," the pale blonde replied sassily. "What about," the black-haired boy asked disinterestedly. "Today's lecture and your little outburst before that creepy laugh of yours got me thinking," the older girl admitted grudgingly, "What you said about giving people a reason to hate you. I want you to give me one. A good one." She shuddered slightly as his unnerving gold eyes met hers and he gave a slow, menacing grin. "Are you sure about that, Takamori," he probed, "You might learn more than you ever wanted…" "I don't like you," Sakura stated flatly, "You creep me out, but that's not good enough anymore. I want to know _why_ you're so creepy. The whole thing." Golden eyes narrowed coldly, "The whole thing, hm. You have no idea what you're asking for." "Duh," the seventeen-year old rolled her eyes mockingly, "If I knew I wouldn't _be_ asking. I'd already know. So tell me." Vanitas snorted scornfully, "You're an idiot…but fine. Guys, I'll be back in a bit. I don't want to risk being overheard," he trailed off and smiled coldly before he continued in a menacing tone, "No reason to give anyone _else_ nightmares, after all." The older girl gave the dark-haired twelve-year old a skeptical look as he got to his feet before following him outside; she honestly doubted anything he had to say was anywhere near as bad as he was indicating. He was still just a kid after all.

Vanitas led the older girl around the back of the schoolhouse before leaning against the fence and fixing a cool stare on her face. "Just remember that you asked for this," he stated coldly before he started talking. Sakura's earlier skepticism soon gave way to disbelief, then shock, and then horror as he described _exactly_ how his father had treated him, when he was still alive, in a passionless monotone. He told her about how the man had never called him by name; it was always 'boy', 'monster', 'freak', or 'demon'. He told her about how the beatings started, though he didn't elaborate on why, and on how they'd gradually progressed into genuine attempts to kill him. He told her about how he'd stopped fighting back after a while. About how tired he'd grown of constantly being in pain and seeing his own blood splattered everywhere. About how there were days he genuinely wished he were dead. He told her about how Akira had tried to drown him and would have succeeded had he not tried to attack Sora. " _No one_ harms my brother," Vanitas snarled at that, "I told him I'd kill him if he tried it again!" He then continued to tell her about the next two years of violent assaults that he'd endured in excruciating detail. About how the only thing that made it all bearable was the support of his younger brother and his mother. Then he told her about how it all ended. "I should have known something was wrong," the twelve-year old stated bitterly, "I should have realized he hated me _too much_ to stay sane."

His eyes and voice were hollow as he told her about how _peacefully_ the day had started. About how his mother had laughed and smiled at he and his brother over lunch before she left to bring Akira his meal. About how that was the last time he saw her alive. "I heard her scream," the boy closed his eyes, "I told Sora to wait in the living room while I went to see what was going on…and I saw Akira…standing over her body holding one of her kitchen knives. There was so much blood…there was so much…I _knew_ there was no way she was still alive. He'd killed her…" He paused and shook his head slightly before he went on to tell her about how he'd run back into the living room and told his brother to flee. He told her about how he'd chosen to stay behind to buy his brother time to escape and to get _some_ payback on his long time tormenter. About how they'd fought and how he'd been beaten nearly to death. About the surge of fear and grim determination he'd felt once he realized Akira was going after Sora. "He's my little brother," the boy whispered, "I couldn't let him get hurt…no matter what it cost me." He told her about the knife shard and how he'd focused every last ounce of strength and will-power he had left to get back to his feet, throw it across the room…and sink the blade right into his father's heart. "I don't remember much after that beyond pain, and the fact that I felt like I was drowning…which it turns out I was. My broken ribs had torn several holes into my right lung that just kept ripping wider with every breath I took. By all rights I should have died that day. I didn't, though, thanks to Baba and Namine. Still I was in a coma for a month after that, and bedridden for even longer," Vanitas concluded tiredly, "So now you know. Not what you were expecting, was it?" Sakura shook her head slowly, "That… I… How…" "I did warn you," the ebony-haired boy pointed out blandly. "You…did…," the seventeen-year old replied slowly. He sighed and shook his head, "Look, I'm going back in. You can either come with or stay out here. Free period's almost over though, so you should probably head in sooner rather than later."

Sakura stared blankly after her younger classmate as he walked away before she slowly followed; he had definitely _not_ been exaggerating in class earlier. If anything he'd been _understating_ the severity of the abuse he'd endured. The sheer pain that leaked through into his voice had convinced her of that. It was no wonder he didn't act like a normal kid. It was clear that he hadn't been one for a very long time. He acted more like someone _her_ age or even older. The treatment Vanitas had suffered had forced him to grow up and abandon his child-like innocence and wonder far too soon _and, looking back, she realized it showed_. It was visible in the forced levity he sometimes displayed around his friends. It showed in how he spoke with far more maturity and insight than one so young should possess. It was apparent in how his eyes would glaze over wistfully when his friends ran ahead and laughed gaily. Sakura found that she couldn't maintain her old dislike. She'd known _nothing_ about her classmate; had judged him purely on his appearance and the gossip she'd heard from her mother. She'd been _so_ wrong, but with one month left in her schooling there was no _way_ she could make it up to him. The seventeen-year old didn't hate him…but she was absolutely certain that _he_ deserved to hate _her_ for how she'd treated him. She felt so _guilty_ for her past behavior. 'Just saying sorry isn't enough,' she thought as she walked dazedly through the door he politely held open for her, 'but…maybe I can make up for my mistakes another way. What if I try to make a change? Try to become…better somehow. Yagami…no…Vanitas…thank you. I needed that shock to open my eyes. I've been blind…but no more. It'll be hard, but…I'm going to try and stop judging people before I know them. I'm going to try to stop discriminating against people because they're different from me. I have a chance…to become a better person now… So thank you.'

That afternoon after school let out, Sakura headed straight home and got right to work on her paper. She already knew her parents were prejudiced against Vanitas just like she had been. The seventeen year old had spent most of the rest of the school day thinking about her past behavior anyways and knew for a fact that it had _all_ been completely unjustified. That part was easy. She also knew that there was no way she was willing to see her golden-eyed classmate suffer a fate like that of the victims of the Purge. He'd suffered enough already. The platinum blonde teen was still uncertain as to how she felt about the entire Dark thing, though. She'd been brought up her entire life to believe that the Darkness was evil and so were all things associated with it. She just couldn't reconcile that belief with the image of entire families being ruthlessly slaughtered. Some of the kids in her class she had known since they were five or even younger; the thought of one of her innocent playmates being killed just because they could use the Darkness…it disturbed her. Mr. Harris didn't realize it, but he'd also finally broken down her preconceptions about all things Dark as well. She _knew_ that the Heartless were bad. No one denied that. But those who could wield the Darkness and those born with only an affinity for the force without the ability to access it…that she was uncertain about. She'd never _met_ anyone who could use the Darkness.

She was starting to harbor some suspicions about Vanitas though; Sakura was pretty sure he had had a natural Dark affinity. He was tall for his age, he had black hair, and his eyes were the true gold her teacher had mentioned. It just made sense to her. She refused to ask him, though. Not with the sudden revelation as to how _wrong_ so many of her beliefs had been…and the knowledge that many of the adults in the village _still believed as she once did_. For her classmate to admit to a Dark affinity in public would be tantamount to suicide; the seventeen-year old didn't want that. She tapped her fingers on her desk as she thought about what she was going to write. She knew she wasn't willing to allow the Purge to happen again. That had been just plain wrong. However, she also wanted to make it clear to both her teacher and the rest of the class that she had _finally_ gotten it. That she realized that she had been wrong and wanted to change, but how could she do that without revealing that it was _Vanitas_ who had opened her eyes. Sakura bit her lip before her eyes suddenly widened as inspiration struck. What if she only wrote that she had needed a shock to open her eyes to how wrong she had been, but didn't specify what that shock had been? That could work. The pale blonde-haired teen grinned brightly and started writing rapidly; this would be the best paper she had ever written.

Sakura spent the rest of the week observing Vanitas closely and noticed multiple things about him that had escaped her in the past. He was still pretty distant and antisocial towards those outside of his small circle of friends, but he wasn't as bad as she'd always thought. He might deliberately act creepy in order to scare people off, but he wasn't actually rude about it. In fact, he was surprisingly courteous when he spoke; it was his expression and mannerisms that were so unnerving. He had a sense of humor; it was strange and twisted, but it still existed. He had a nice smile which she caught a glimpse of when he was speaking to Sora, Roxas, and Riku. He got a frighteningly cold look on his face when he saw _anyone_ being bullied and would always intervene; she supposed it would make sense that he had a problem with abuse considering what she now knew about his history. He clearly cared deeply for his friends and his younger brother from the tender look he'd get on his face sometimes. He was genuinely willing to help other people with their schoolwork, even if they were outside of his circle of friends, and she realized that many of her younger classmates regularly came to him with questions. There was also the fact that he looked pretty good for being five years younger than she was. She could see him being quite handsome when he hit his teens; the part of her that was a typical teenage girl regretted that she wouldn't get to enjoy the eye-candy before her parents married her off. However, the thing that struck her most was what an amazing actor he was. You would never guess just from watching him that Vanitas had been abused simply because he didn't _act_ like an abuse victim. He didn't cower, he didn't flinch, he didn't shrink from conflict, he wasn't shy, and he didn't apologize incessantly; he didn't do any of it. The only hints of his past abuse were his general reclusiveness, his maturity, and the sheer ease with which he dodged questions he didn't want to answer. It made her wonder why he'd been so willing to tell her the truth on Monday, but she was reluctant to ask. She doubted she'd get a straight response; that and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know.

Sakura was, quite frankly, amazed by how much she'd missed the past four years. 'I really _was_ blind,' she admitted, 'Vanitas isn't a bad guy at all. He's kind of cute too…' She flushed slightly as the thought registered and mentally slapped herself several times. 'I did _not_ just think a guy five years younger than me was cute,' the seventeen year old scolded herself, 'I'm almost eighteen for crying out loud. That's just creepy! I wonder what he'll sound like when his voice drops… AH, NO! BAD SAKURA! STOP FANTASIZING ABOUT VANITAS!' She ended up banging her head against her desk a few times, which drew some odd looks from the kids who sat near her, just to knock the mental images out of her head. She rested her head under her desk after she was finished and cursed her hormones under her breath; she blamed them for her moment of creepiness. "Stupid hormones," the pale blonde-haired teenager muttered, "It's not as though he's the _only_ attractive guy in town… Takeo's pretty hot. So is Osamu. Riku could look pretty good too when he's older… GAH! NO!" She yelped at the end and started banging her head on her desk again. Vanitas, whose enhanced hearing had allowed him to hear all of this, only shook his head and muttered, "I do _not_ want to know." Riku, who had also heard, had an awkward blush on his face, "Neither do I."

Friday came and went; Marcus Harris had collected the papers at the start of class and brought them home at the end of the day to grade. As he read through them he was gratified to realize that only five students out of his class of thirty were willing to allow another Purge to happen. They gave very clear and well thought out reasons as to why they felt it could be necessary in the future, so he couldn't fail them. It was still disturbing for the man to realize just how deeply entrenched the old hatreds were in those five. The teacher was pleasantly surprised when he found Sakura's paper, though. It seems he'd finally gotten through to her. That was a relief; she was a bit spoiled and stuck-up perhaps, but she wasn't really a bad person. Her paper proved beyond all doubt that she had a good Heart under all her sass and frivolity. The forty-year old teacher continued reading through the papers until he got to Vanitas' and had to pause; there was so much _bitterness_ dripping off of those two pages. He'd basically recounted his childhood as vaguely as possible for use as an example of the dangers prejudice could pose to innocent people. What really caught his eye though was one passage: ' _the boy never did anything wrong. He only ever called on the Darkness in order to help people, and for that he was condemned over and over. Perhaps that will always be his fate, but the boy will never stop trying to prove them wrong. He will_ _ **always**_ _be there to help those who need it for he knows what it is like to suffer. He will_ _ **never**_ _abandon those who need him. Even if it costs him everything in the end._ ' Marcus frowned in concern; he'd heard from his sons that their friend had a self-sacrificing streak, but this struck the man as being a bit more. It sounded more like the beginnings of a martyrdom complex to him. Still the paper was very well written even if it did make him worry. 'I'll have to talk to Touya at some point about this,' the teacher decided as he wrote an 'A' on the paper, 'Someone needs to talk to that boy before he goes too far.'

Mr. Harris had handed back the graded papers at the beginning of class on the following Monday before continuing with the day's lesson. It was fairly standard. His sons left with their friends at the end of the school day so they could hang out a bit before dinner. Marcus finished closing the school down for the night and on his way home when he ran into the mayor. "Mayor Uchida," the teacher blinked, "This is a surprise. What can I do for you?" The auburn-haired man frowned slightly, "We'll be having a town meeting tomorrow at one o' clock. Some of the citizens have raised a few concerns about the curriculum you've been teaching that need to be addressed. Your presence will be required. It would be for the best if you arrived early." The golden-haired man frowned, "One o' clock? I'd have to cut the school day down to half… This is rather sudden. What were their concerns?" "You'll have to come to the meeting," the mayor deflected, "Excuse me, but I have work to take care of. Good day." Mr. Harris frowned as the other man hurried away, "Hm… I wonder if Touya has any ideas as to what this is all about." He hurried home and gave a quick response to his wife's greeting before he headed for the phone and dialed the Shimomuras. The line rang briefly before he heard the click of the receiver being lifted and Mikazuki's polite voice rang clearly, "Hello. This is the Shimomura residence. Who may I ask is calling?" "Mikazuki," Marcus replied, "It's Marcus Harris. I need to speak with your husband. Is he in?" "Hang on," the woman replied, "He's up in his study. I'll go get him." He heard her set the receiver down on a hard surface and waited patiently for it to be picked back up.

A minute later he heard it being lifted again and the rich tenor of the Watch Captain's voice sounded, "Marcus. Hello. Is something wrong?" "In a matter of speaking," the teacher sighed, "I just ran into the mayor. Did you know there was a town meeting at one tomorrow?" "This is the first I've heard of it," Touya's voice sounded surprised, "Normally Mayor Uchida keeps me up to date on this kind of thing. Did he say what it was for?" "Apparently some people have complaints about my curriculum," the blonde man replied, "What I don't understand is why they can't just address them to me directly? I'm always willing to hear people's concerns about the material I choose to present. This meeting makes no sense! Worse, it's set in the middle of the school day! I'll have to cut it short with barely any time to adjust my class schedule to fit!" The silver haired man groaned in annoyance, "He had better not be attempting what I think…" "What," the other man wondered. "I think _he_ and a few of the more bigoted villagers have a problem with your approach," the Watch Captain replied irately, "They may try to pressure you into leaving." "What," Marcus exclaimed indignantly, "Now?! I've been teaching the same curriculum for the past four years! If they had so much of a problem with it why didn't they act sooner?!" "Who knows," Mr. Shimomura replied drily, "Don't worry. I'm pretty sure I can counter this. I'm going to need to make some calls of my own… Maybe see if the kids might be willing to help me out… Vanitas definitely will. He likes you and Roxas too much to let the mayor and his friends win." Mr. Harris paused before he responded as he imagined what his deviously creative student might pull, "Is it normal for me to feel a bit sorry for the other guys?" "We're going to be setting my godson, who your son once so eloquently described as an 'annoyingly devious and stubborn asshole', on them," Touya responded drily, "Pity is a perfectly normal reaction. I need to make those calls now. You just do what you have to in order to get ready. Goodbye." "Goodbye," the teacher replied before he heard the dial tone and hung up himself. 'I suppose I have a witch-hunt to get ready for,' he thought resignedly, 'Oh joy.'

Mr. Harris ended class at noon the next day with some trepidation; Vanitas and his friends had all had matching expressions of determination on their faces all morning. "Don't worry, dad," Ventus offered as his father walked out the door, "We have a plan." "That's not as comforting as you'd think," the man muttered back. His youngest son only laughed slightly and shut the door behind him. Marcus sighed and walked down the street to the inn where the meeting would take place; he was still somewhat puzzled about the timing of the meeting. It was fairly obvious that he'd been using his position as a teacher to fight back against the villagers' judgmental behavior for the past three years. He was honestly more confused about why the backlash had taken so long to kick in; he'd been expecting it within the first month of his tenure. It made no sense for them to be acting _now_ when he'd finally made some major progress with his students; the damage had already been done, in a sense. The kids were extremely unlikely to fall back in line with their parents now that they recognized such behavior as being wrong. He was also a bit uncertain as to exactly how Touya thought he could fight back against the mayor's plan. Marcus recognized that the man was one of the wealthiest people in town, that the position of Captain of the Watch afforded him considerable influence in village affairs, and that he was a remarkably eloquent speaker; however, there was one major problem.

Mr. Shimomura was also a fairly controversial figure in that he openly defended his godson against his detractors. He would be _expected_ to sympathize with Mr. Harris' efforts, and that would work heavily against any defense he could muster. The final matter that was troubling him was his uneasiness about what his sons and their friends had come up with to 'help'. He _knew_ they were all good kids, but they were also exactly that: kids. It was extremely unlikely that any plan they could create would do much to influence the adults' opinions. The teacher was concerned that whatever they tried would end up backfiring horribly in one way or another. He was actually far less concerned for his job security than he was for the backlash against Vanitas for their little group's attempt to interfere. The man was well aware that there was no way the golden-eyed twelve-year old would let any of the blame fall on his friends; he _still_ needed to share his concerns about the boy with Touya. Marcus sighed again as he arrived at his destination and walked in to find that the meeting area had already been prepared. The teacher straightened his shoulders determinedly and made his way towards the makeshift stage at the front of the room. Regardless of his concerns, he refused to let his principles be attacked; he would _always_ stand up for what he believed in.

The meeting area was set up in the ground floor common room of the inn which was just large enough to accommodate the entire adult population of the village. Marcus wasn't surprised to see that less than half that number of chairs were present though. If this meeting was basically a set-up, as Touya suspected, then only those who were of the same mind as the mayor would have been informed. The teacher sighed and leaned against the bar as he waited for the rest of the participants to arrive; he didn't have long to wait. They started trickling in after about fifteen minutes; the teacher had lived in Unmei long enough to have a firm grasp of the villagers personalities, outlooks, and to know where they fell on the scale of open to close-mindedness. Those individuals who showed up he recognized as being the _most_ close-minded, self-righteous, and flat out bigoted people in town. 'Looks like Touya was right,' Mr. Harris sighed to himself as they took their seats, 'I am _definitely_ not looking forward to this so-called meeting.' Mayor Uchida was among the last to arrive and had an uncomfortably smug expression on his face as he noticed the teacher standing off to the side. The auburn-haired man made his way to the make-shift stage that had been assembled at the front of the room, climbed up onto it, and turned to look out over the room. Marcus found that he was uncharacteristically tempted to smack the man just to get that self-important expression off of his face. The last of the mayor's accomplices arrived, and the beleaguered educator tensed as their ringleader took a deep breath as though he were about to launch into a long-winded speech.

Fortunately, whatever he was about to say was derailed when the inn's front door swung open once more; Touya Shimomura had arrived, and he wasn't alone. The smug look on the mayor's face was replaced by one of disbelief as the Watch Captain walked in with several others trailing behind. Mr. Harris frowned as he realized his friend had somehow managed to convince the rest of the villagers to come. Frankly, he didn't understand how this was supposed to help; yes, _some_ of these people were more likely to be supportive of his actions, but they were also _very_ passive. They were so non-confrontational that they generally tried to ignore the hardcore bigotry of their fellow villagers. It was a form of self-defense, really. The only exception was the healer, 'Baba' Kadowaki, who was largely uninvolved with such things due to the fact that she seldom left her hut except for when she needed to gather supplies or make house calls. He had no idea how Touya had convinced her to come or howshe would respond to all of this. The rest were largely indifferent to what went on around town unless it personally affected them. They were, quite frankly, wildcards. "Why Captain," the mayor blustered, "What are you doing here?" "There's a town meeting today, isn't there," the Watch Captain responded innocently, "True, I only found out about it at the last minute, but I thought I should double check to make sure everyone knew about it. Imagine my surprise when I found out that most people were as ignorant as I had been. It's not like you to be so absent-minded, mayor, but I figured you must have been under a lot of stress. So I took care of it for you." Mr. Harris was a bit impressed by how his friend had cornered the mayor; he could either admit to his conspiracy and lose face, or he could lie his face off. "Oh…," Mayor Uchida tried to hide his flinch, "Yes, it's been a very…stressful month. Been forgetting things left and right. Thank you." "Not a problem," Captain Shimomura grinned, "Hm, there aren't enough chairs. Hang on. I'll grab the rest out of storage, and then we can get this meeting started."

The mayor's face started to turn red as it occurred to him that his original plan wasn't going to work; he was forced to wait as his infuriatingly perceptive and insubordinate Captain of the Watch methodically retrieved the rest of the chairs and set them up. Sometimes he wished he had the authority to dismiss the man, but that power lay solely with the regional governor. Mr. Uchida was really starting to resent that law; it made consolidating a power base so that he could be mayor-for-life next to impossible. 'But,' he reflected, 'that's probably why it was made in the first place. Blast!' Finally, all the chairs were set up, the rest of the villagers took their seats, and the meeting was clear to begin. Mayor Uchida coughed uncomfortable, "Right. Yes. Ahem. This meeting has been called to address some concerns a number of you have shared with me regarding our schoolmaster, Mr. Marcus Harris, and the curriculum he has been teaching our children. They are as follows. Number one: that he is teaching undesirable values. Number two: that he has been feeding them lies about creatures that don't exist. Number three: that he is encouraging rebellion against established authority. Number four: that he is teaching fabricated history. Number five: that he is deliberately frightening them during lessons. Number six: that he is allowing the students far too much freedom. Number seven: that he is encouraging them to question the wrong things. Number eight: that he is giving them a false impression of life outside of this village. Number nine: that he is encouraging the acceptance of undesirable people and ideas. And finally, number ten: that he is abusing his position as a teacher to advance his own agenda. These are very serious accusations, Mr. Harris. Can you defend yourself against them?" The teacher held his head high as he walked up to the stage and responded, "I can and will." The mayor smiled indulgently, "Then you are welcome to do so." He stepped back as the blonde man climbed up onto the stage and faced the villagers.

"First," Marcus stated formally, "I would love to know what these 'false values' I'm supposed to be teaching are. The only values I've encouraged are for my students to think before they act, to be curious about the world, to not be afraid of things they don't understand, and to honor king and country. I fail to see the problem with any of those. Second, I can only assume this complaint was made in reference to the lesson I gave on Lumens. I have never been so unfortunate as to encounter one of these creatures personally, but my grandfather, alas, was. He along with several other members of his expedition were nearly killed by one of the monsters. He managed to shoot a _clear photographic record_ of the encounter, and collected the written testimonials by the _other survivors_ of the attack…which he then left to me as an inheritance. I feel I need say no more on the topic beyond: they are real. If anyone still doubts my words I will happily show them his collection. It's quite compelling. Third, I believe in our king. Deeply. He is a wise man and a compassionate, yet firm, ruler. I believe in the system of laws he and his forefathers have established and have always followed them to the letter. I respect the authority of the regional governors who administrate their districts on the king's behalf and enforce his laws. I do _not_ encourage rebellion against established authority. I encourage _respect_. However, if some of them start feel that certain authority figures in their lives are in the wrong… Well, then it is my responsibility as their teacher to hear their concerns and try to help them come to terms with their change in perspective. What they choose to do after their internal conflict is resolved is entirely up to them. I want them to think for themselves, and not rely on me or anyone else to do their thinking for them. Self-reliance is an important part of growing up, after all."

The teacher paused and frowned sternly before continuing, "Fourth, that is, quite frankly, an insult to my integrity as an educator. I teach only material that has been verified and authorized by the Teacher's Guild. Let me tell you a bit about the review process each new edition of those textbooks has to undergo. First, the Guild contracts the top experts in the relevant fields and turns the text over to them to review. They mark any and all flaws they find in its contents before turning it back over to the Guild. Then they submit their suggested corrections which are then added in while the erroneous material is removed. The revised text is then returned to the experts who go over it _again._ If it passes their inspection, then the textbook goes to print and is distributed across the kingdom. As new discoveries are made, or new theories are advanced the older editions gradually become obsolete and new editions are put together and submitted to the same process. It ensures that the students we teach are always learning the most up-to-date and relevant material on science, math, literature, grammar, and _history_. If you have a problem with the material in those texts then take it up with the Guild. Fifth, it has _never_ been my intent to frighten my students. I want them to see school as a safe and secure place where learning is fun. I will admit that sometimes my lectures can get a bit…intense. That is because I am very passionate about education. That is why I try to balance things out in my lessons. If one of my lectures covers a time in history or a work of literature that is on the unpleasant side I try to include another lecture on a lighter topic. Say I have to cover a war in history. Wars are never nice things to learn about. I balance that out by giving a lecture on something fun like how bees communicate. The little kids always get a kick out of hearing that they will do a dance to tell the other bees where to find food. Are some of the things I cover in class potentially scary? Yes, because _life_ is often scary. It is my job to prepare them for that."

Marcus took a deep breath and continued speaking, "Sixth, how, exactly, am I allowing them too much freedom? My schedule is structured and regular. Mornings I cover grammar, literature, cultural studies, and then we go outside for physical activity. We break for lunch at noon. Then we cover science, mathematics, government, and history. I give them a free period to work on homework at around four. Next is foreign languages. Then we finish off the day with art on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, or music on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I don't vary from this schedule if I can avoid it. I give them tests on the material every two weeks, and scatter random pop quizzes across the intervals between tests to make sure they're learning the material. They get homework in every subject every day that isn't a test day. I'm not seeing where they are getting too much freedom. Seven, define the 'wrong' things. _My_ education conditioned me to question _everything_ , so I honestly have no idea what they aren't supposed to be questioning. Eight, I counter this accusation with a few questions. How many of you have traveled farther from Unmei than Aozora or Yume? Have you ever been to the western half of Lux? Have you visited the capital? As a member of the Guild I have been all over the kingdom. I'm pretty sure I know what it's _really_ like out there. Ninth, if by undesirable people you mean criminals and deviants then no I have not. However, if all you mean is 'people who are not like us' then yes I have. And I am not ashamed of that. The past five kings have stated their intention to integrate both people of Light and Dark affinities into this kingdom and make it a Balanced realm. They've made a lot of progress in Core regions the past few centuries, but in regions like this…not so much. I was born and raised in the Core before starting my career, so forgive me if my definition of undesirable is a bit different. Think about _that_ before you condemn me for teaching acceptance of differences. Finally, if you mean am I trying to fight back against what I see as dangerous levels of ignorance and close-mindedness then yes I am. Most of my family has to some degree or another. Ventus doesn't really fight back, but it does make him very sad. My wife scolds. Roxas glares. I educate. This is just the type of people we are. If I had moved here and _not_ been a teacher I would have found another way. I do not regret it because I've been able to help _so many_ of these kids. They've got good Hearts. They just needed a little guidance to find that out for themselves. I'm proud of them, and you should be too. So they look at things a bit differently now. So what? The world is changing. You _need_ to look at things a bit differently to succeed these days."

The common room turned meeting hall was silent for a few moments after Mr. Harris' speech before one man surged to his feet and snarled back, "You're a liar!" The teacher raised an eyebrow, "Mr. Takamori. Somehow I am not surprised. When did I lie?" Jomei Takamori counted off on his fingers as he spoke, "Lumens, values, and questioning! You admitted that you're using your position to change our kids! You're brainwashing them!" "If my students are choosing the values _I_ teach over the ones their _parents_ have taught then I'd say that indicates a flaw with the parents' values," Marcus replied drily, "I already told you I question everything. Some kids find that an appealing mindset, but it is not one I deliberately encourage. I don't have to. Kids are curious, so once they realize that they don't _have_ to stop questioning things…they don't. All I've done is provide an example, and I refuse to change who I am just because it is inconvenient for other people. As for the Lumens…when I taught that unit your daughter claimed the same thing. My evidence rather effectively proved her wrong. She has since accepted that she does not know everything. It seems you never learned that lesson. That's a pity. It must be terribly frustrating when the world refuses to conform to your beliefs." Mr. Takamori sputtered indignantly at that which made Touya snicker quietly. He'd borne witness to his neighbor's numerous temper fits over the years, and they all had one thing in common: someone or something had acted in a way that ran contrary to how he thought it should be.

His amusement was cut short by a woman standing up and glowering at the stage, "So what if we haven't traveled that far from home! I doubt things are that different across Lux!" "The Core is very different," the teacher replied, "There are very few small villages and farms like there are out here. There are towns of varying sizes that contain anywhere between 1,000 and 4,000 people. The cities are even bigger with some buildings towering taller than trees. They have even more people living in them. The capital, Radiant Garden, has over a million people living within its walls and it's the largest city in the kingdom. Most generally have between fifty or a hundred thousand people who call them home. Cars and air-bikes are more common than wagons and buggies. Life is much faster in the Core. Wealth is more important there than it is out here because you can do more with it. So is social status. You'd never see the nobility associating with the common folk. That's not even getting into the differences between how you look at things. All the problems you have with me and my approach to teaching? That's because I'm from the Core. Even the regional capital, Yoake, is different than Unmei. The Core is progressive. Rural regions are conservative. Yoake is somewhere between the two. The fact is that places like Unmei are on the fringe, and will be forced to change how they look at things. The law of the land demands no less." "The king wouldn't force us to live with the Dark," another villager protested, "It's evil!" "That isn't what is believed in the Core," Marcus countered, "Dark and Light _have_ no inherent morality because they can't actually _think_. They are forces which exist. No more. No less." "Then what about the Heartless," another yelled out, " _They're_ Dark and _they're_ evil!" "I'd agree except it has been proven that the Heartless are creatures of pure instinct," Mr. Harris replied, "They don't actually _think_. They're certainly monsters, but evil requires the ability to make conscious decisions about one's actions. Evil knows what it is doing is wrong, but doesn't care. Are they dangerous? Yes. Are they evil? Usually no. There are a few rare exceptions that do seem to be capable of complex reasoning. _They_ are definitely evil. They know what their instincts are driving them to do is morally wrong, but they don't care enough to resist them. _That_ is evil. Most Heartless, however, just don't have the brain power."

The mayor's associates kept attacking the teacher, and he kept refuting their accusations. However, after two hours of this back and forth he started to grow frustrated. Fortunately, he wasn't the only one. "Enough," Baba finally snapped firmly, "You're all acting like children! For Light's sake, you don't need to keep attacking the man just because you don't agree with him! Besides, he has a point. The world is changing, and we need to change with it. If what he is teaching those kids will help them weather those changes then so much the better. It means Unmei will survive. Anyways, you're acting like change is a bad thing. This village could do with some changes. I, for one, would like it if we could all be a bit nicer to each other. All this hostility is bad for the health. Causes stress you know. Very bad for the heart stress is. Mmm, yes." Her little outburst and tangent stopped the exchange cold. Mayor Uchida coughed awkwardly, "Um, yes. Thank you for the insight, Baba. Well, now that we've heard the grievances against Mr. Harris, his defense, and had an…enlightening debate. I say we put the matter to a vote. All those in favor of requesting his resignation and obtaining a new tea-" His motion to put it to a vote was cut off by the tavern door being slammed open by an incandescent Sakura followed by the other students. "Daddy," she yelled shrilly, "What do you think you're doing?!" Mr. Takamori paled, "Now, Princess. Let me explain…" "No," the seventeen-year old protested dramatically, "Mr. Harris is the best teacher I've ever had and you want him to _leave_?! How could you?! Don't you care about me?!" "Of course I do, Cupcake," her father responded desperately as he made his way over to his daughter, "But…" "You don't," she wailed pathetically, "If you did you wouldn't try to get rid of him! You hate me!" "I'm not trying to get rid of him," her panicking parent lied blatantly, "I just felt there were some legitimate-" "Don't lie to me," the platinum-blonde teen blubbered, "You're a terrible daddy! You _hate_ me and now you're _lying_ to me!" "I don't and I'm not," he protested, "I was going to vote no! I promise! You'll keep your teacher!" "Really," the teenage girl sniffled with a wide-eyed look. "Yes, really," the man replied earnestly. "Oh, thank you, Daddy," Sakura cried as she flew into her father's arms, "I love you!" "I love you too, Princess," Mr. Takamori sighed in relief.

The hysterical teen's father was clearly beside himself, so he never noticed the devious grin that flickered briefly across her face. Mr. Shimomura, however, did. 'That…was an act?! Wow, she's good,' he marveled. Several of the other students were pulling similar moves on their parents to much the same effect. Others just stared silently with utterly pathetic and heartbroken expressions on their faces; this was also effective. The rest just started clinging to their parent's and begging shamelessly for them, "not to get rid of Mr. Harris! He's so cool!" The end result was that all of the parents either reversed their antagonistic intentions just to appease their children or decided that if their kids liked him that much than he _must_ be a good teacher regardless of what had been said. Only Mr. Harris noticed the six friends hanging back near the door with satisfied expressions on _five_ of their faces; the exception was Vanitas who was smirking malevolently at the stage. The teacher glanced over to the side and realized why. The mayor's face was as red as a tomato as he sputtered indignantly. It suddenly occurred to him that this must have been their plan all along: to rally their classmates to come and guilt their parents into letting him stay. It was simple, effective, and utterly brilliant.

The mayor finally sighed in resignation as he calmed down and called for a vote once more; it was an overwhelming majority in favor of Mr. Harris staying on. The auburn-haired man scowled as the students cheered happily at that outcome, but he dismissed the meeting with all the composure demanded by his position as mayor. He was the first to leave, and he shot a venomous look at Vanitas as he left. He'd noticed the boy's expression and had no doubts about who was responsible for the sudden appearance of his classmates. The other adults also started to leave with their children in tow. Soon the only ones left were the six friends, Touya, and Marcus. "Well, that went better than I could have hoped," Mr. Shimomura grinned, "Nice going, kids." "It was Vanitas' idea," Sora grinned back as he placed his hands behind his head. The black-haired boy shrugged and smirked widely, "Hmph. You act like it was hard to work out. No _decent_ parent is going to be able to resist a heartfelt plea from their child. Besides, I've seen Ventus work. That's proof enough of how effective guilting someone into doing what you want can be." "I was impressed by the 'spoiled brat' routine Sakura pulled off," Roxas admitted, "She's _really_ good at that." "She's had a _lot_ of practice," Riku chuckled, "She's had her parents wrapped around her little finger for _years_. Never thought it would be an advantage." "All part of the plan," the golden-eyed boy stated with a sage nod. "You thought all of that up in one night," Mr. Harris gaped. "Yep," Vanitas replied proudly, "I've always had a knack for that kind of thing. Uncle Touya's tactical lessons helped refine it a bit, though. I like making plans." The teacher shook his head in amazement; he'd underestimated the boy. "You know my dad's gonna be even worse to you now, right," Kairi asked worriedly. "Eh, it's not like he'll try to kill me," the older boy shrugged casually, "I can handle it." "Did you see the look on his face, though," Ventus laughed, "He looked like he was going to explode!" "Yeah," the ebony-haired boy grinned wistfully, "It was great…" Touya shook his head at his godson's vindictive streak, "You enjoy messing with people far too much. You'd better be careful or it could come back to bite you one day." The young Darkness wielder laughed, "I'm plenty careful. Seriously, you all worry too much. I'll be fine!"

 **A/N:** I had a _little_ too much fun messing with Sakura this chapter. Particularly making her momentarily attracted to both Riku and Vanitas. Why did I do this? Name me one female who has played the games and not thought at some point that either of them is attractive. Even I think they are physically appealing, though not in a sexual way. Just because I'm not particularly interested in either gender doesn't mean I'm blind. Besides, Square has a track record for designing ridiculously pretty male characters. Kingdom Hearts is no exception. Except for Master Xehanort; he's too old not to mention he's evil. I know people will expect me to include Even/Vexen, Aeleus/Lexaeus and Dilan/Xaldin on that list. My reasoning? Even though I, personally, don't find them attractive I'm sure there are some women out there who do. Besides I like Lexaeus; he always struck me as being kind of a nice guy for a Nobody. I know it's kind of weird for me to be focusing almost entirely on people who are _not_ main characters for once, but I have a reason for it. Sakura plays a pivotal role in the climax. It wouldn't happen at all without her unintentionally setting things off by simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You'll find out next week when I post the first half of the climax. Touya will be involved in the second half. Marcus does not have a role in the climax, but he is a sympathetic party to our protagonists. That's why he got so much focus. Back to Sakura for a moment, I'm sure some people are going to think that her sudden shift in opinion was unrealistic. However, she has been one of Mr. Harris' students for four years. That entire time the man has been teaching lessons designed to weaken the prejudices his students had picked up from their parents. She was thirteen when he started teaching his class to look at things differently. From my perspective, four years is a realistic span of time for a teen's opinion to gradually shift. The shock of learning about what happened to Vanitas was just the catalyst to bring her the rest of the way around. Now for a little blurb about how much extra detail I develop, but don't always include, in my writing…I just spent 3 hours working out Unmei village's population, the ratio of kids to adults, the ratio of adults who hate Vanitas to those who are indifferent to those who are sympathetic, ratio of single parent households to two parent households, ratio of families with kids to families without kids, number of elderly people, ratio of kids who like, dislike, or are indifferent to Vanitas, and ratio of married people without kids to unmarried people without kids. It was a lot of math, but I realized when I was writing this chapter…I kind of need to know this! It ended up being one long word problem that took up an entire page. I wrote it out in a Word document that contains all my extra background notes that aren't necessarily relevant to the plot. It is going to be _so long_ by the time I am done with this… Also I draw maps. So-o-o-o many maps. Building layout maps, town layout maps, physical maps, political maps… Actually, I posted a few on my DeviantART account. I go by Wathrandir on that site, so feel free to check them out if you're curious. Basically I channel my inner DM when I write. Yes, I play D &D although nothing past version 3.5. What can I say? I like the classic systems more. And there I go off on a tangent. Sorry. And it's another insanely long author's note. Ah well. At least we're near the end now. A few long notes won't hurt. Next time we start the climax. See you then!


	18. Darkness Revealed

**A/N:** Finally reached the second climax! The two climaxes are the bulk of the reason why this fic has an 'M' rating. Obviously, the rest of it could easily get away with a 'T' rating. I'm being cautious. To be fair, the climax doesn't actually peak until the end of the chapter. I like slow build-ups. It shouldn't get too dark…I mean, there is some dark stuff, but it should be a lot less _physically_ damaging for Vanitas. Note that I accented physically. I, personally, find what's coming up to be more heart-breaking than anything; particularly with all the friendship building I've been doing. You'll see what I mean. Also, Vanitas is going to be finding out firsthand what happens when his Unversed are killed; I don't _think_ that counts as physical pain. I haven't actually _read_ the novels since they kind of aren't in print in my country…plus I can't read hiragana, katakana, or most kanji…so I have no idea how the pain from their deaths is actually supposed to affect him. Is it physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain, or phantom pain? The wiki doesn't say, and I have no other way of finding out. Finally, to head off any questions: yes, the beach in the beginning is supposed to be a future version of the Play Island off the shore of the Destiny Islands. The structures from that time have long since crumbled away, but the physical landmarks still remain. The island just happens to be landlocked now; I'm not going to go on a tangent about the geological processes that make this possible. It'd take too long. Just know that there is actual _science_ at work behind this change; because I am a science nut on top of everything else. So here we go! Time to begin this book's final act!

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 17: Darkness Revealed

Sora scowled at his older brother with his hands on his hips, "C'mon, Vanitas! We're gonna be late meeting the others! It's the second week of summer vacation, and you're wasting it by lying in bed!" Vanitas lay flat on his back with his arms behind his head and rolled his eyes; the twelve-year old was in no particular hurry to get moving. "Sora, it's just the beach," he grumbled, "We go there every year. It's not _that_ big of a deal if I miss it. Besides it's not as though I do much more than sit in the shade." "You could always try swimming with the rest of us," the brunette suggested. "Not happening," the older boy snorted, "I don't swim in public. You know that." "Your scars aren't that bad," his younger sibling protested. The golden-eyed boy gave his brother look number 45 – 'you idiot, I cannot believe you just said that' – and snorted again, but said nothing more. "Please, Vanitas," the eleven-year old pleaded, "You've been cooped up in here for days. Just come hang out with us." The Darkness wielder had spent the entire first week of summer break hiding in his room, attending lessons with Mikazuki, or training in the courtyard. No one knew why as he wasn't acting depressed, and the older boy wasn't in a sharing mood. The truth was that Vanitas was confused; the entire last month of school Sakura had been unusually courteous to him, and he was thoroughly weirded out. Ever since he'd impulsively chosen to open up about his past in an attempt to get her to leave him alone the now eighteen-year old's entire demeanor towards him had done a complete 180. He hadn't expected her to actually start to _like_ him. His whole reason for shutting down was that he was struggling to understand why she reacted that way. His friends' reactions to the events of his childhood made sense; they knew him and already liked him somewhat. Her reaction did _not_ ; they weren't friends. In fact, he was pretty sure she'd hated him. So why had she been acting so _nice_? It was driving him up a wall.

"Look," Sora sighed as his older sibling remained silent, "I don't know what's been bothering you and I'm not going to ask, but I think you need to take a break. You know, distract yourself. A trip to the beach could be just the thing! Just forget about whatever it is and have fun!" Vanitas had to admit that the constant brooding _was_ starting to stress him out a bit; maybe a break _would_ be a good idea. The ebony-haired boy huffed and glanced over at his sibling, "Hmph. You win. I'll come. Just give me a minute to grab my beach clothes and I'll meet you downstairs." The blue-eyed boy pumped his fist in the air and cheered, "Alright! Thanks, Vani!" "And drop the nickname," the older boy called after his brother as he ran out of the room, "You're eleven now for Light's sake! It's getting ridiculous!" The twelve-year old stretched, rolled off his bed, and landed in a crouch before standing up. He sighed and scratched his head as he mused internally, 'He'll never change…' He then headed over to his dresser to collect his beach clothes and get changed; he didn't want to deal with a petulant Sora if he took too long. The kid spent _way_ too much time with Ventus. He'd managed to pick up the younger twin's 'kicked puppy-dog' face and now delighted in using it on his older sibling. He _hated_ that look, and did _not_ want to have to face that today if he could avoid it. It was a miracle the kid had refrained from pulling it out while trying to persuade his older brother, but Vanitas wasn't complaining. He grinned slightly as he pulled out a half-sleeved red shirt and a pair of thin, lightweight, long, black cotton pants; now he just needed to grab a roll of bandages so he could wrap his lower arms and grab his sandals.

True to his word, the dark-haired boy ambled into the living room a minute after Sora had left the room. The brunette grinned brightly at his older brother and grabbed him by the arm, "C'mon, let's go! The others are waiting outside!" "I don't know why we can't just take a Dark Corridor," Vanitas grumbled, "They're so much faster." "Eh, maybe," the younger boy admitted, "but it's kind of creepy in there. Besides we can't enjoy the sun and wind if we travel that way!" The taller boy sighed, but didn't press the issue as he let his brother drag him outside to join their friends. He cringed and blinked rapidly as the sunlight hit his eyes, "GAH! Too bright!" "Which is why I wear sunglasses," Riku stated drily, "I don't know why you refuse to wear them." "I don't _refuse_ to wear them," the golden-eyed boy retorted as he rubbed at his eyes, "I just can't find a pair that doesn't make me look like a dork. The selection around here kind of sucks." "Vain much," Roxas teased with a grin. His older friend stuck out his tongue in reply before winking cheekily, "Only because I know I look good." Kairi shook her head and laughed at their interaction, "You guys are so weird." Vanitas shrugged and twitched his fingers lightly; a thin haze of darkness swirled up to cover his eyes before stabilizing as an illusory pair of square-lensed sunglasses. "That's better," he sighed. The other kids gaped at their friend's casual use of his powers in the open. "What are you thinking," the silver-haired boy hissed as he glanced around warily, "What if someone had seen you?!" "I'm _thinking_ that the sun was still hurting my eyes," the other Darkness wielder responded casually, "and that I can neither smell nor hear anyone close enough to notice the change. I'm not that reckless." "Was that a new technique," Namine asked politely as they all calmed down. "Not exactly," the ebony-haired boy admitted with a shrug, "Really, I'm just channeling two skills at once. Specifically Illusion and Dark Mist. They're basic enough that it's not too much of a strain on my control."

The group started walking out of the yard and headed down the road to the main village gate at the west end. It was a good day for a trip to the beach; the sun was shining, the sky was mostly clear aside from a few scattered, fluffy white clouds, there was a light breeze blowing inland from the sea, and – although it was still pretty early in the day – it was already getting warm. The kids wanted to be able to spend as much time as they could just relaxing and playing on the shore. Fortunately, it was only a mile from the gates down to the water. There were actually several beaches near Unmei, but only one was suitable for casual recreation. The others either dropped off too fast or suffered from frequent, and lethal, rip-tides; the beach the seven friends were headed for was located in a small cove where the bottom dropped away slowly. In a sense, it was really two beaches separated from each other by a low, craggy ridge that were connected by a tunnel the waves had eroded in the base. One of the two was slightly larger than the other. The mouth of the cove was sheltered by a shallow reef which broke the force of the incoming waves and prevented the formation of deadly undertows. The area was called, rather unimaginatively, Play Cove, and was a favorite summer destination for the village children. The younger children gathered on the larger of the two beaches with one or two teenagers hanging about to keep an eye on them. The older kids favored the smaller beach. Several generations back, one of the more creative villagers had built two shacks; one on each end of the short tunnel. Why they had chosen to do this was unknown, but it _did_ mean that the younger kids wouldn't wander over to the other beach to bother the older kids. The darkness of the tunnel freaked them out.

The seven friends arrived at Play Cove to find that only a few of the village's youngest children were present on the beach, and that Sakura, of all people, was the one keeping an eye on them. She smiled amiably and waved at the group as they walked past on their way to the shack. The responses were mixed; Kairi and Ventus both returned the smile and wave in full, Sora and Riku both waved awkwardly, Namine flushed and ducked her head, Roxas gave a brief smile and nod, and Vanitas just nodded in acknowledgement. Again, his sheer confusion at _why_ she was being so _nice_ reared its head. 'She _would_ be here today, wouldn't she,' he grumbled internally, 'I have no luck…' Fortunately, the eighteen-year old soon turned her attention back to the kids she was supposed to be keeping an eye on. The black-haired boy sighed in relief as they entered the shack and started heading through the tunnel beyond. "Something wrong," the older twin asked his friend. "Not really," the older boy replied, "I'm just glad I might have a chance to relax after all." The quieter blonde gave his friend a skeptical look, but didn't press for an explanation; well, more accurately, he shot the look in his friend's general direction. The tunnel was pitch black, and the only reason he wasn't concerned about tripping, or running into anything, was that he trusted the two Darkness wielders' enhanced eyesight. He knew they wouldn't let their friends fall or hurt themselves.

The tunnel was perfectly straight from end to end and was only about fifty feet long; the only potential dangers were uneven patches of ground, fallen piles of rock from the tunnel's continuing erosion, or new pools of water from one of the seeps that occasionally sprang up. It was a living system. There were no such hazards, this time, and the group made it to the other shack without mishap. Riku, who was at the front of the group, opened the door and stepped back out into the sunlight. _This_ beach was almost entirely unoccupied with only a few groups of older kids chasing each other through the palm grove, tanning on the beach, or playing in the surf. Kairi grinned, grabbed Sora's hand, and she dragged him down to the waterline to help her look for shells for her collection; the brunette squawked in surprise, but let her tug him along. He didn't mind helping her out, really, but he did sometimes wish she would at least ask first. Namine shyly tugged on Roxas' arm and pointed to the volleyball net that one of the other kids had set up; they'd also left their ball behind. "You want to play a game," the older twin grinned at her. "Yes please," the blonde girl replied with a hopeful smile. "We'll have to find out who the net and ball belong to first," he pointed out. "No need," Riku replied calmly, "They're both public property. They get stored in the shack every night. You can tell by the yellow marks on the poles and ball." The two blondes both expressed their understanding, "Ah, I see." "Oh, okay," before inviting the older silver-haired boy to join their game which he agreed to. They still needed one more person to make the teams even, and questioned the two remaining boys if they'd like to play. Vanitas smirked, "Do you _really_ want me and Riku playing at the same time? You know what we're like. Better if I just sit on the sidelines and swap out with him on alternate games." Ventus shuddered and nodded, "I think we can all agree that's an _excellent_ idea. I'll be fourth then. Let's go!"

Vanitas sat by the picnic basket Namine had brought along as he watched his friends play. If he were completely honest he'd have told the others that he wasn't the biggest fan of volleyball. It wasn't that he was bad at it; he was athletic, and acrobatic, enough that he had an easy time with most sports. His main problem lay in the fact that he honestly found it kind of boring; he found most sports boring. The main exceptions to this were fencing, kendo, and martial arts; basically, the combative sports. The only reason he agreed to play was that he found the game to be a lot less boring when the people he was playing with were his friends. They made it actually somewhat fun. The black-haired boy yawned and rubbed his eyes as he watched the other four play. 'Of course,' he mused, 'w _atching_ the game is still boring as hell. I could heckle Ventus…but then the others will get ticked. I could practice my powers…but there are other people around and I am _not_ blowing my secret just because I'm bored. I could take a nap…but I'm not really tired. Just bored. I…really don't have many options, do I? Fuck. Hm…what to do…?' Vanitas ultimately ended up just flopping on his back and picking shapes out of the clouds; it was still pretty boring, but it was less boring than watching the game. He soon came to the realization that he may be spending too much time practicing with his Unversed; he kept picking out one or more of them among the clouds. His favorite was probably 'Floods dogpiling on Ventus'.

It occurred to him that he really needed to figure out what his problem with the kid was before he went too far; his senseless antipathy was just getting ridiculous. 'It isn't as though he's been a jerk to me or anything,' the dark-haired boy frowned as he picked out another shape – Flood eating ice cream – in the clouds, 'If anything _I've_ been the jerk. He's always nice to me even when I'm being an ass to him… He keeps those of my secrets that he knows to himself… He accepts my powers… He doesn't think I'm a freak or a monster or any of those other insults I keep hearing… Heck, he doesn't insult me at all. He's a decent fighter. He's pretty smart when he's not being completely oblivious. There is _no reason_ for me not to like this kid… So why don't I? What is _wrong_ with me?' Vanitas sighed in annoyance as he heard the game wind down before he muttered, "Guess I'll have to wait a bit more to figure _that_ out…" Riku walked over and looked down at his reclining friend, "That bored, huh?" "Oh shut up," the ebony-haired boy grumbled as he sat up, "You can only watch a ball go back and forth so many times before you lose interest." He then got to his feet and stretched before he glanced at his silver-haired friend, "So I guess you're switching out now?" "Yep," the aqua-eyed boy nodded, "It's your turn now. You're on Namine's team." "So the twins are a team, huh," the golden-eyed Darkness wielder smirked, "This'll be fun…" He walked onto the makeshift court and took his place next to Namine. "Don't get _too_ carried away now," Roxas grinned from across the net. "I make no promises," the dark-haired boy grinned evilly. Ventus swallowed hard at the menacing look on the older boy's face, but prepared to serve the ball. The ball went up, it came down, the younger boy smacked it, and, not long after, had to dive out of the way with a yelp as it came screaming back over the net. The game was on.

They spent the rest of the morning playing volleyball before Sora and Kairi came back and they all took a break for lunch. Namine had spent the previous evening hard at work putting the bento boxes together, and it showed when she pulled them out. "Damn," Vanitas whistled, "Those almost look too good to eat!" "Thanks," the demure blonde blushed prettily, "I worked hard on them. So who wants what?" The other six kids bickered good-naturedly over the boxes before they worked it all out; the golden-eyed twelve-year old got the squid tempura and pickles, Ventus got the inari-zushi and apple slices, Riku got the onigiri and sausage-squids, the brunette got the chicken tempura and onigiri, the red-head got the cucumber sushi and takoyaki, Roxas got the takoyaki and cold soba, and the apprentice healer was left with the sausage-squids and fruit salad. She had also packed home-made lemonade to drink, and dango for dessert. As they ate they all complimented the blonde girl on her cooking and the arrangement of the boxes; both were really good.

The red-haired girl had also taken the opportunity to pass out the finished result of a project she'd been working on for the past three years. "They're called Wayfinders," she explained as she handed out the star-shaped charms she'd made of thalassa shells and dyed paopu skin with stained glass ornaments in the center, "There's an old legend that says that, so long as you have this charm, you'll always find your way back to the ones you love. I'd noticed the fishermen's wives giving them to their husbands when they went out, and asked about it. That's when I heard the legend. I figured they'd be a good symbol of our friendship. That way, no matter where our lives take us, we can always look to these charms to remind us of the unbreakable connection we share." She gave Riku the yellow and white charm, her brunette friend the pale blue and yellow charm, Namine the white and pink charm, the younger twin the pale green and yellow charm, the older twin the dark blue and white charm, her oldest friend the dark red and yellow charm, and kept the purple and pink charm for herself. The other kids simply smiled at the red-head and thanked her for the charms before pocketing them as well, but the oldest of them did not. He stared at his charm thoughtfully; for some reason the sight of it gave him mixed feelings of disdain, longing, relief and contentment. It was a confusing combination, and he frowned slightly before pocketing it with a faint sigh, "An unbreakable connection, hm…" "What? You don't like it," Roxas gave his best friend a questioning look. "No, I do. I was just caught by surprise is all. Also wasn't expecting it to have the symbol that shows up on some of my Unversed as an ornament. Fitting though," the older boy shook his head slightly before smiling faintly at the charm's maker, "Thanks, Kairi." The older blonde gave the dark-haired boy a skeptical look, but didn't press him for answers. He was more than familiar with the other boy's skill at evading questions he didn't want to deal with by this point. Kairi beamed at Vanitas happily at his thanks, "You're welcome, Van!" The kids continued eating and chatting idly and soon moved on to the dessert.

Sora chewed on his dango stick after he finished eating and looked at the others. "So who wants to go swimming next," he asked. "Shouldn't we wait a bit," Ven countered, "I mean, we did just eat lunch." "How about a game of tag," Kairi suggested, "and _then_ we can swim." The other kids agreed that this sounded like a good idea, but Vanitas stated he would skip out on the swimming bit. "No swimsuit," he offered as his excuse, "besides, someone needs to keep an eye on our stuff. May as well be me." His younger brother looked annoyed and grumbled, "Yeah, and your reluctance to let anyone see your scars has nothing to do with it…" "Not saying it doesn't," the older boy responded with a quick grin, "but I'm still not going swimming." "I've never even knew you _could_ swim," the younger twin admitted, "At least, I've never seen you do it…" "Oh, he can swim," Riku confirmed with a glance at his older friend, "We used to all go down to the beach together when we were little, and he was diving in and out of the water like a dolphin. The entire refusing to swim in public thing only started after he turned five." "Conditioning," the black-haired boy responded drily, "Akira's treatment would have been too obvious if I took my shirt off, and I wasn't allowed to blow his cover. Remember? Also, the scars are _really_ bad. As in I'm pretty sure seeing them would give people nightmares. Or just make them pity me. Neither of which I particularly want. Why else do you think I keep so much skin covered?"

The other kids all gaped at the older boy as he folded his arms across his chest and continued in a cold tone, "It's not really a secret anymore that I was abused. Not since I spoke up in class. But, let's face it, most people still don't get how bad it was. No one does except maybe Sora and Namine. They've actually had the chance to _see_ my scars. I'm not shy. I wouldn't say I'm all that modest either. But I _don't_ want to deal with the reaction people _will have_ to how messed up my body is. So I'm not swimming. Deal with it." Vanitas shot a sharp look at his younger brother as he finished making the other boy cringe slightly. "Okay, okay," Sora sighed, "I'll stop asking. Can we go play now?" The older of the two Yagami brothers shrugged, "I'm not stopping you." The other four kids shook off their imaginings of just how bad their friend's scars must be to make him so reluctant to show them and headed off into the palm grove. Namine had not had as bad of a reaction because the golden-eyed boy was right; she _did_ know how bad his scars were and she didn't blame him for wanting to keep them hidden. She had already started walking the second the older brother had answered the younger's question. It was the two siblings who were the last to join the group; the brunette had ambushed his brother with a surprise hug before he ran after the others, and the taller boy had frozen just long enough to give the younger of the two a head start.

The game of tag was fairly typical for their group; Vanitas and Riku had both been banned from using their full speed due to the fact that it gave them an unfair advantage. The ban did _not_ stop them from using their natural agility, borne of years of sparring, to dodge out of the way. That still wasn't enough of an advantage for them to win the game, though; that honor went to Roxas. He and his twin was just as fast and agile as the older two boys when they weren't using their powers, but they were also slightly shorter. True, it meant the twins didn't have as much reach, but the older of the two was cunning enough to compensate for that. He managed to turn what would normally be a disadvantage…into an advantage – one that won him the game. Far from being upset, the two Darkness wielders congratulated their friend on outsmarting them before they all headed for the water. Those who intended to swim stripped down to their swimsuits and ran for the surf leaving the black-haired boy behind to keep an eye on their clothes. Vanitas simply lay back on the sand and dozed lightly under the shade of a lone palm tree as he waited for his friends to tire of the sea. He figured they'd probably head back home after this as it was heading into the middle of the afternoon. The other kids spent hours running, splashing, swimming, and diving through the water and, by the time they tired of it all, it was four o' clock in the afternoon. They'd spent most of the day on the beach just as they'd hoped to. Kairi was the one to fetch everyone's clothes, and their towels, from the older boy's care. He stretched and sat up as he waited for them to finish drying off and get dressed; it didn't take long. Soon everyone was ready to head back to the village.

"Today was fun," Namine beamed, "When should we come down here again?" "How about next week," Ventus replied, "I've still got summer homework to finish." "Mine's done," Vanitas shrugged before shooting an annoyed look at his brother, "I did it while I was 'hiding in my room' last week." "Mine's done too," Riku grinned, "I did a little each night, and that knocked it out pretty quick." "Eh, mine's half done," Sora admitted, "I'll finish the rest later." "He means on the last day before break ends," his older brother snorted. "There's other stuff I'd rather be doing," the younger boy protested, "At least I finish it!" "Let me guess," Roxas grinned, "You also beg Vanitas for help." "He does," the golden-eyed boy sighed, "It's so pathetic I can't bear to refuse." The older twin laughed at the indignant look on the brunette's face before he gave his report on his homework status, "I'm mostly done. I've still got a few pages left, but they shouldn't take me more than a day." "That's more than me," Kairi shook her head, "I've still got a quarter left." Namine blinked in confusion, "What's summer homework again?" "My dad likes to give out short assignments for us to complete over summer vacation," the quieter twin answered, "Our teachers back in Twilight Town did it too. It's mostly review stuff so we don't forget what we learned over the break. It also makes sure that it isn't such a shock when school starts up again." "It's torture," Ven moaned, "I'd rather be out playing." "Preach it, my friend," Sora proclaimed which, unfortunately for him, prompted his brother to flick him in the ear making the younger boy yelp, "What was that for?!" "Being silly," Vanitas replied drily, "I keep telling you that the sooner you finish the work the more time you'll have to play. Why _else_ do you think I get mine out of the way so fast?" "Because you actually like learning," his younger sibling replied. "That too," the older responded, "But also so that I have more time to do what I want without having the threat of unfinished homework hanging over my head. I can enjoy the fun more that way." The brunette gaped at his older brother before fisting his hands in his hair and moaning, "Why didn't _I_ think of that?!" "Because you don't think things through," the golden-eyed boy grinned, "Silly Sora." Kairi laughed, "I haven't heard you call him that in _ages_." "Well, he won't leave off _my_ childhood nickname," the older boy smirked, "So I decided I may as well bring back one of my own."

The seven friends continued chatting easily as they made their way back through the tunnel, across the larger beach – which was now kid-free Vanitas noted –, and back up the road. It wasn't until the village gates were just out of sight that the two Darkness wielders froze and stared at each other in concertation. "Did you hear that," Riku asked his best friend uneasily. "I did," the other boy replied with a frown, "Hang on. I'm gonna try something." The other kids turned back to watch as the older of the two snapped his fingers and summoned a Flood. "I need you to sneak into town and see what's going on," the Master of the Unversed commanded, "Don't let _anyone_ see you. Once you've got a handle on the situation return and report to me. Understood?" *Yes master,* the Flood replied before it flowed into the ground and vanished. Sora gaped at his brother, "Since when can they do _that?_ " "Since always," the older boy responded distantly, "The Unversed can use Corridors of Darkness to travel anywhere same as me. Their method of access is a lot more subtle because they are technically creatures of pure Darkness. The method by which they reach the Corridors varies by type. The Floods are the most subtle which is why I summoned one as a scout. This is the first time I've ever had to put them at risk like this, but I'm not willing to go over there without knowing what's wrong. I refuse to risk everyone's safety when it might be something Riku and I can bypass by using a Dark Portal." "Wait, something's wrong in the village," Namine gasped fearfully. "We heard a scream," Riku admitted, "That's a pretty good indicator that there's trouble. We just don't know what." The rest of the group, save Vanitas, shifted uneasily, but didn't continue onwards; they waited patiently for the Flood to return with its report.

They didn't have long to wait as a minute later it popped back out of the ground. *I saw strangers. Big, mean, dirty-looking men in the big open space just inside the gate,* the small Unversed announced, *They had big swords, and some of them had these stick things that they were waving around threateningly. The girl with the really pale hair was there too. She had a bunch of little kids with her, and they were all hiding behind her and crying. There were maybe twenty other people around too, but they were staying as far away from the strange, scary men as possible.* Golden-eyes widened in shock before they narrowed in focus. "These stick things the strangers had," he stated in a tone of forced calm, "What did they look like…exactly?" *They were long,* the Flood replied thoughtfully, *and shiny. They had a hole at one end, and were curved at the other. The men were holding onto the curved end. Every time the end with the hole was pointed at someone they'd cringe away and look very scared. The pale-haired girl was most scared, though.* "The 'stick-things' are called _guns_ ," Vanitas rubbed the bridge of his nose as the other kids gasped, "I'm pretty sure that means the 'strange men' you saw are bandits. How many were there?" The small Unversed tilted its head to the side as it thought, *Twenty? Yeah, it was definitely twenty.* "Twenty bandits," the older boy muttered before he continued with his questions, "You said Sakura was there. Did it look like she had a way for her and the kids to get out of there?" *No,* the Flood shook its head, *That's why she's scared, I think. There were men all around her and they were laughing a lot. Also they kept giving her these strange looks that seemed to scare her even more.*

The black-haired boy froze before a dark, dangerous expression crept onto his face, "So she's surrounded. By bandits. Who are giving her 'strange looks'. And is scared out of her mind." *Yes, master,* the small Unversed nodded, *I think I heard her pleading for them to let the kids go. That they could do whatever they wanted with her so long as they let the kids get away unharmed.* Golden eyes blazed brilliantly as their owner clenched his fists in anger before asking in a tightly controlled voice, "Did you sense anyone who felt like Touya nearby?" The Flood shook its head again which made the dark-haired boy's expression go blank as he responded, "I see. You did very well. You may return." The small Unversed chirped happily before dissolving into a black mist that flowed back into its controller.

"Vanitas," Roxas asked his best friend warily, "What's wrong?" "There are bandits in the village," the older boy replied in a tone of deadly calm, "They have swords and guns which they are using to keep the villagers at bay. They also have Sakura and the little kids from the beach surrounded. She's terrified out of her mind, but is begging the bandits to let the kids go and offering herself up in exchange. The Watch is nowhere nearby, and is unlikely to arrive in time to save her." "Save her from what," Kairi's voice trembled nervously. "What are the two things bandits are famous for," Vanitas answered as he glared down the road towards the village, "I'll give you a hint. It's the one that _isn't_ pillage." Both girls paled in horror as the boys swallowed hard. "And you think those bandits are going to do… _that_ …to _Sakura_ ," Ventus gaped in horror, "We have to do something!" The dark-haired boy swept his hand across forcefully as he shook his head once, " _We_ are going to do _nothing_. _You_ are going to go with Riku through a Dark Corridor to his house _and_ you will stay there until I make it back." Sora was as pale as a ghost as he stared at his brother and stated, "You're going after the bandits alone…aren't you." The grim Darkness wielder nodded firmly before he replied, "No offense, but you guys would just get in my way. I have the best chance of driving them off if I go it alone." "But they'll kill you," Namine gasped tearfully. "I won't die so easily," the golden-eyed boy responded before he smiled coldly, "and besides…I have an army on my side. Between me and my Unversed…they don't stand a chance…" Riku shook his head in disbelief, "But that'll be all the proof the villagers need to mark you as a Darkness wielder! They may not recognize them for what they are, but they look enough like Heartless that it won't matter!" "Then _so be it_ ," Vanitas snarled as his eyes glowed brilliantly, "I may not like Sakura all that much, and her recent behavior may confuse the _hell_ out of me, but she _doesn't_ deserve to be abused by bandits like that! No one does! I _do not_ tolerate abuse! _Ever!_ If the price I have to pay to save her is the revelation of my status as a Dark wielder…then _I will pay it_!"

He then took a deep breath before he continued in a deceptively calm tone, "But that doesn't mean that you guys have to. Plausible deniability. Get them _out_ of here, Riku…and do _not_ look for me if I fail to return. _Any_ of you. I will _never_ forgive you if you do." "Please not again," Sora pleaded desperately, "Please don't sacrifice yourself _again_." The older Yagami sighed and smiled sadly, "I'm sorry, Sora…" The other kids all looked horrified as the older boy turned away and held out his hand to summon twenty Bruisers and Scrappers; he then turned back and gave Riku a sharp look. "I told you to get them out of here," he hissed, "Now _go_!" The silver-haired wielder took a deep breath and nodded, "All right…but you have to promise you'll try your hardest to get out of there." Vanitas smirked back confidently, "Riku, it's me. When have I _ever_ made it easy for those who want me dead? If the villagers end up coming after my head…well, they'll have to _catch_ me first. Gotta love super-speed and Dark Portals. Don't worry about me." The other Darkness wielder nodded again before he turned and opened a Portal; he then waved his free hand to summon six shields for those who were going through. One by one they shot their older friend looks that ranged from sadness to fear to frustration to awe until only Sora remained behind. "Sora," his older brother sighed and shook his head, " _Please_ go…" The younger boy bit his lip before racing over and embracing his sibling in a tight hug. "I love you , Vani," the brunette whispered brokenly, " _Please_ don't die…" Golden eyes softened as the older boy returned the embrace and whispered, "I love you too, Sora. I'll do my best, but…if my best isn't enough…then please…don't forget me…" "I won't," came the other's tearful promise, "I _swear_ I won't!" The younger brother released his older sibling and walked slowly over to the Portal, paused just before going through, looked back at his brother, mouthed the words 'I promise', and stepped through. Vanitas watched until the Portal faded away before he turned to face the village and his expression hardened; those bandits wouldn't know what hit them.

The leader of the bandits leered menacingly at the trembling Sakura as he continued to consider her offer; it truth, he would prefer it if the children died. Their constant sobbing and whimpering annoyed him. 'Still,' he mused, 'If the wench is willing to surrender herself to our…pleasure…in exchange for their survival… That means my boys won't have to waste their energy subduing her…which will leave them with more strength for the rest of the raid! Besides…I don't _need_ to keep my word after we've had our fun. If I were an honest man, well, I wouldn't have become a bandit. Yes…I think I'll do that. Its win-win-win!' "Alright," the bandit leader finally spoke, "We'll take you up on that. I warn you, girl, that if you try to make a break for it or fight back at any point…I'll have my men fire on the sniveling little maggots until they're no more than a bloody pulp!" The platinum blonde teen swallowed hard, "I won't…I swear on my family's honor I won't, but you can't make them watch. Please! They're just kids! Please, don't make them watch!" The dark brown-haired man frowned as he pretended to consider her request before he nodded, "Boys, let the brats through, but don't let them leave your sight. Can't have our leverage getting away now, can we?" The other bandits laughed at their boss' words and a few of them shifted their position just enough to make a gap barely wide enough for the oldest of the children to slip through. The eighteen year old shuddered slightly, but bent over to shoo her terrified charges towards the gap; they obeyed easily. Soon the last of them were clear and the gap closed. "Now then, girl," the bandit leader sneered, "It's time for you to uphold your end of the bargain. Lie down on your back. And _don't_ struggle." Sakura whimpered in terror, but obeyed; she couldn't let anything happen to those kids! Not when their parents trusted her to keep them safe! She was a Takamori, and Takamori's _always_ honored their duty to others _and_ their word. That didn't mean she wasn't dreading what was about to happen to her, though. She squeezed her eyes shut as the circle of bandits closed in around her prone form; they could do what they wanted to her body, but they _couldn't make her watch_. The terrified teenager trembled as she felt a hand tear at her skirt before she heard a familiar voice snarl viciously, " _Get the_ _ **hell**_ _away from her you_ _ **bastards**_ _!_ " Sakura kept her eyes closed, but listened closely to the lead up to the conflict that would soon erupt between the bandit leader…and her enraged former classmate.

The leader of the bandits turned and eyed the furious twelve-year old dismissively, "Or what, brat?" Vanitas' eyes were cold as he responded, "Or I kill every. Last. One of you." "You," the bandit leader snorted, "You're just a kid! As if you even have it _in_ you to kill." The boy tilted his head to the side in mock amusement, "Huh. So the rumors haven't spread. That's surprising." The man frowned in confusion at that, "Why would I care about rumors about some brat?" A cold, cruel smile spread across the black-haired boy's face, "Oh, just the ones that go on about how I murdered my so-called father when I was eight. They aren't entirely false, by the way. I _did_ kill him, but seeing as he'd _already_ murdered my mother and was going after my brother… I'd say he deserved it. I have this thing against abuse, you see. It tends to make me… _violent_. Hatred has a funny way of affecting people…wouldn't you agree?" He then release a short, chilling laugh before continuing menacingly, "I'll tell you one more time. Get. Away. From. Sakura. Or else I turn _lethal_." The bandit leader was starting to feel a bit unnerved by this kid, and it wasn't just because of his words; it was more the way his predatory golden eyes seemed to be glowing faintly. "You _must_ be joking," the man finally managed, "You're just one kid! What can you do against twenty full grown men?" Vanitas smiled mockingly before he hissed, "This," and blurred out of sight. One of the bandits suddenly screamed and fell over clutching his leg which had been snapped clean in half; the twelve-year old blurred back into sight as he stood over the injured man and considered him thoughtfully before flicking his fingers. The screaming man was instantly consumed by purple-black flames as his killer raised his _glowing_ golden eyes…and smirked cruelly. "Still think I'm joking," he purred. The other bandits shrank back from the terrifying child as their leader paled. "…demon…," the man whispered before glaring furiously at his men, "What are you waiting for?! Kill him!" The black-haired boy shrugged casually, "Guess we're doing this the hard way then. Too bad for you…" he trailed off as he snapped twice, "…I'm not alone!" There was a popping noise before the space behind the boy was filled with dark-colored monsters; some were large and bulky with an uncanny resemblance to fat boxers while the rest were lithe and lean with large, sharp claws. The Master of the Unversed folded his arms across his chest and gave his orders, "Keep Sakura and the villagers safe. _Kill the rest_." The Scrappers hissed and clashed their claws together while the Bruisers roared and banged their gloved fists together in response to their creator's words before they charged. The bandits gave their own battle cries before they lunged forward to meet the attack; sure they were scared, but they refused to go down without a fight. Vanitas smirked in satisfaction as the two sides clashed before he dove into the fray himself; he still had a classmate to rescue.

Not for the first time, Vanitas was glad he could smell people's Hearts; it helped him pinpoint Sakura's location in the seething mass of men versus Unversed. He ducked and wove between the combatants as he followed the scent of her fear, and soon found her on her side curled into a tight ball with her arms shielding her head. The twelve-year old paused to fire a Dark Aura into a nearby bandit's gut before he called up a Dark Shield around him and his former classmate. "Sakura," he stated calmly, "You can relax now. You're safe. They can't get to you in here." The terrified eighteen-year old flinched before lowering her arms slightly and looking up at her young savior, "Vani…tas? How…? Where…did those monsters…come from? I don't…know what's going on…" The dark-haired boy sighed and looked away as he observed the fight outside the Shield, "These _creatures_ are called Unversed. They're formed of pure emotion and Darkness. I created them…and in return they are loyal only to me. The fact that I can create Unversed marks me as a rare variant among my kind." He turned his gaze back to the stunned teenager and continued, "I'm a Darkness wielder, Sakura. It's why Akira hated me. Why he tried to kill me. And if I'm _really_ unlucky…it's why you might have the chance to see the Purge reenacted if the villagers manage to get their hands on me after all of this." Sakura froze in shock at his words; however, after dealing with the fear of being raped by bandits and hearing her former classmate kill a man in cold blood, it was one shock too much and she fainted dead away.

Vanitas sighed in resignation and moved to leave the safety of the Shield before he froze; a searing pain suddenly ripped through his chest. The boy choked as his lungs seized up, and he fell to his knees. A haze of black mist surrounded him briefly before fading away, and that returning surge of negativity told him all he needed to know. Nine of his Unversed had just been killed…and he'd _felt_ their pain as they died. The twelve-year old gasped as his lungs finally responded and panted for air before struggling up to his feet. There were only five bandits left now, but he couldn't risk anymore of his creations dying; it hurt too much. The Unversed swiftly pulled back at their master's silent command to focus only on defending the villagers and to leave the rest to him. Golden-eyes glowed vibrantly as he called on all the Darkness he could handle before he left the safety of the Shield…and fought. One second he was driving his fist through a man's heart, the next he was snapping another's neck with a powerful spin kick, and the next he was firing a full powered Dark Aura point blank into another's face. He paused after calling down a Dark Thundara to fry the fourth bandit and turned to face his final target: the leader. The once defiant man was now shaking in fear as he brandished his sword; the ebony-haired boy slowly grinned as an idea occurred to him. "Since it's only you and me left," the Darkness wielder announced, "I'm going to give you a fair fight. I've some skill with a blade, so what I'm proposing is that I claim one of your late cronies' swords…and we fight, one-on-one, to the death. I'll even hold back my speed and strength to your level, and not use any of my other abilities." "…Pure swordsmanship," the bandit leader questioned warily. The boy nodded, "Pure swordsmanship. I warn you, though. You'll probably still end up dead, but at least I'm giving you a chance to defend yourself. Not like _these_ idiots." He gestured casually to the bandit corpses littering the ground and smirked, "They never stood a chance." The dark brown-haired man snarled viciously at the demon child who'd ruined everything, "Mark my words, demon boy! I _will_ destroy you! And burn this accursed village to the ground!" "Hm," Vanitas mused mockingly as he picked up a sword and swung it a few times to test its balance, "Demon boy is a new one. Usually it's 'freak', 'monster', 'murderer', 'boy', 'brat' 'murderer freak', 'monster brat', or just plain 'demon'. As for your little threat…" The twelve-year old spun around, took up his stance, and smiled coldly, "…You wish!"

Man and boy stood facing each other across their battlefield before the bandit leader let out a battle cry and charged his young adversary. Vanitas smirked and danced out of the way of the incoming strike before lunging forward with his own blade. The man barely managed to block the strike and shove his attacker back; he swung low aiming for the boy's knees, but was countered when his opponent flipped backwards to evade. The dark-haired child landed in a crouch and sprang forwards in a roll that would carry him behind his older foe. The bandit turned to meet the rear attack, but was slightly off-balance and staggered backwards. Golden eyes glinted ferally as the young Darkness wielder followed up on his attack and swung for the man's unguarded left side. The bandit leader had to fall on his back in order to evade and rolled desperately to get out of range of further follow ups before scrambling back to his feet. He'd underestimated his adversary's determination to take him down, though, and had to bring his blade up to guard against a vicious lunge for his chest. He managed to deflect the blow and kicked out to knock his opponent back and, hopefully, force him to drop his guard. Vanitas barely evaded the kick and sprang backwards to avoid the follow up attack. He took up a guard stance and narrowed his eyes as he spotted an opening; the bandit leader seemed to have a bad habit of leaving his right side unguarded. That would cost him. The ebony-haired boy smirked at the man as he lunged forward again in hopes of overpowering his younger foe. The young Master of the Unversed easily deflected the attack, and then stepped forwards so that he was within his older opponent's guard; he then struck hard at the man's right side and sliced deep into his gut. The bandit choked in pain and dropped his blade as he fell forward clutching at his wound. The golden-eyed boy casually bent down to grab the dropped blade, and held up both weapons crossed at his adversary's neck. "Vanish," Vanitas hissed menacingly before he swung his arms apart and decapitated his foe. He stepped back as the headless corpse collapsed to the ground before he stabbed both borrowed blades deep into his fallen opponent's back before turning and walking away.

Vanitas casually dismissed his Unversed and re-absorbed their essence before he dispelled the Shield covering Sakura's fainted body. He then turned to face the gathered villagers and tensely awaited their reaction. It wasn't a long wait. "Abomination," one elderly woman hissed as she glared at him hatefully. "He can use the Darkness," one man snarled, "I _knew_ there was something _unnatural_ about that boy!" "He killed them all," a woman shrieked, "He isn't human!" "He'll come after us next," an old man claimed. "Not if we get him first," another man shouted and the whole mob of people burst out into an enthusiastic roar of approval at this proclamation before they started moving forwards. The dark-haired boy shot a quick glance at the stirring teenage girl he'd risked everything to save as he moved away from the advancing crowd, and smiled faintly as she started to uncurl; she'd be okay. Now it was time for him to make his escape. The angry mob let out a howl as they charged while throwing whatever they could get their hands on at the target of their aggression. Vanitas reacted by swiftly summoning a Dark Portal right behind him, stepping backwards through it, and slammed it shut in their angry faces. The last thing he saw was a dazed Sakura looking his way and the look of dawning horror crossing her face as she realized what the villagers intended to do to him. He took a deep breath and let it out before he turned and started walking down the path before him. The Darkness wielder had promises to keep.

He was well aware that, now that even that small number of villagers new his secret, it was only a matter of time before the whole village was screaming for his blood. Nothing would save him from that. However, even if these were to be his final hours…he wanted to spend them with the people closest to his Heart. His brother. His friends. They were everything to the ebony-haired boy. It wasn't long before he saw the light at the end of the Corridor and the tired boy smiled sadly. Perhaps it was selfish of him to return when he knew it would only be temporary, but he'd given his word. He'd never broken a promise before, and he wasn't about to start now. Besides, he owed it to them to at least say good-bye and allow them that same chance. Death held no fear for the boy…the only thing he truly feared was seeing the people he loved in pain. The fate that awaited him, though, was a pain he could not spare them. It was inevitable. Vanitas paused before the light that marked the exit and took a deep breath before he stepped through; he would enjoy what peace he could before everything came crashing down. Then…when the time came…he would give his farewell and go to meet his fate without regret. Perhaps…if the others saw how he was not afraid…their pain would be less. He could dream.

 **A/N:** And that's the first half of the climax done. This was the half with the action in it. The next is the one with the emotional carnage. Well, maybe not carnage, but it's definitely sad. Things ended up being a bit bloodier than I expected because Vanitas. He _really_ wanted there to be blood and pretty much did his own thing. It works though. I don't really have much more to say than this. See you in part two of the climax!


	19. Partings

**A/N:** And now we have the second half of the climax. My intent is for you to finish this chapter feeling very sad and sorry for my protagonists. To that end, I am going to be writing this while listening to my YouTube playlist that consists only of versions of the song 'Answers' (you know that utterly _amazing_ song from the shutdown of version 1 of Final Fantasy XIV. Never played the game; only stumbled across videos of the final cutscene on YouTube via Erutan's cover of the song. My reaction to the original cutscene? O_O …eep… Yeah, it was pretty much pure epic badassery and me drooling over the latest version of Bahamut. I like dragons. Also the music fit _perfectly_. No wonder SquareENIX pretty much owns my soul…) on repeat. It's eleven songs long. Not sure how long this chapter is going to be since its mostly Touya trying to hold off a lynch mob, trying to come up with a solution that will appease the villagers _without_ killing Vanitas, and having the only idea that he comes up with…being kind of painful for everyone who _likes_ the kid. Those segments not involving my dear Captain will be covering the seven friends and their final moments together for…well, a long time. I'M NOT KILLING HIM! In spite of what may have seemed like foreshadowing, I am not killing Vanitas off (…yet!) I still need him for the plot. Ask me again in book 5. I'm still making up my mind as to how the final battle is going to play out. He might die then…but, then again, he might not. Depends on how well I can resist my urge to make this whole thing a tragedy. I want to give you guys a happy ending…but I _really_ like tragedies! As of my writing this, I have about a week left before school starts. Need to finish it before then. I can post it during the semester, no problem, but the writing…it kind of eats up my time; a lot. Can't write and do school-work at the same time. I get fixated and my homework ends up not getting done. So, let's wrap up the climax and get on to the last few chapters! I need a Tardis…

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 18: Partings

Vanitas stumbled out of the Portal and waved his hand tiredly to dismiss it before raising his head. His friends, who had all been scattered sitting, standing, or leaning against the walls around the courtyard, jumped up at their oldest friend's appearance and rushed over. "Vani," his brother exclaimed worriedly, "Are you okay?! How's Sakura? Did you reach her in time?" The golden-eyed boy sighed and smiled weakly, "Sora… Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. Sakura's safe. Those bastards never had a chance to hurt her." "The villagers take it okay," Ventus asked hopefully. The older boy sighed again and shot the younger twin a look that would have been annoyed if it hadn't been so hopeless, "What do you think, idiot?" The younger blonde flinched at the bitter and utterly resigned tone in the Darkness wielder's voice, but it was his older brother who responded flatly, "They turned on you." The black-haired boy gave a broken laugh, "That's putting it mildly. They want me _dead_." The other kids' eyes widened in horror as they gave voice to their dismay at this outcome; this was one fate they would _not_ accept befalling their friend. "They couldn't…," Namine shook her head in disbelief as tears welled up in her eyes. "I can't believe it," Ven whispered. "I knew it," Riku sighed resignedly. "Light, please, no," Kairi bit her lip as she tried not to cry. "Like _hell_ I'm gonna let them," Roxas snarled viciously. "They can't have you," Sora protested as he clung to his brother, "I can't lose you too!" Vanitas closed his eyes as he whispered, "You may not have a choice…" "You've already given up," the silver-haired boy realized, "haven't you?" "More like I've accepted what's going to come," his best friend ran his hand through his hair tiredly, "I always knew it was only a matter of time…" "Vani, please no," the brunette started to cry as he buried his face in his brother's right shoulder, "Don't _say_ that!" His older brother gently embraced his sobbing younger sibling with one arm as he ruffled the boy's hair with his free hand as he spoke calmly, "Sora, it's okay. I know this is hard for you. To be honest, it's kind of hard for me too. I _hate_ seeing you in pain. That's why…when the time comes…I need you to be strong…and just let me go." The girls started crying at their older friend's calm acceptance of his fate while Sora just clung even harder to his brother. Roxas shook his head violently, "How can you be so calm about this?!" The ebony-haired boy glanced over at his blonde best friend and gave a weak smile, "Because I'm not scared. I haven't been afraid of dying since Akira tried to drown me. I accepted it back then just like I'm accepting it now." "Well, we aren't," Riku finally spoke up again with a determined look on his face, "Maybe _we_ can't fight this, but my dad _can!_ I _refuse_ to just let you _die_!" Vanitas merely sighed as he continued comforting his younger brother, "Do as you will…" He knew it wouldn't amount to anything in the end; the dark-haired boy knew the villagers' hatred for the Darkness was too great for him to escape unharmed. Still, if it helped his friends gain some sort of closure to fight this…he would not stop them.

Touya and his men had arrived at the town gates five minutes after Vanitas' departure and the angry mob was still hunting for any sign of their quarry. Sakura was still sitting on the ground in shock as she stared blankly into space with a horrified expression on her face; she'd known the villagers didn't _like_ her former classmate, but she never realized how deep and violent their hatred truly was. To think that she had been just as bad at one point…it both disgusted and frightened her. The Watch Captain frowned as he beheld the scene before him; it wasn't the bandit corpses littered across the ground that concerned him. If anything he was pleased that someone else had taken care of them already. It meant less paperwork. No, he was more concerned by the snarling mass of villagers tearing apart the surrounding area. "Keiji. Yukio. See if you can calm those folks down before they break something and we have to arrest them," the silver-haired man ordered two of his subordinates before he continued, "Kazuo, you're with me. The rest of you, get these corpses cleaned up before they start to smell. We can question the witnesses as to what happened once they've calmed down. I'm going to go see to Miss Takamori. Let's move, men!" "Sir! Yes, sir," his men saluted before they moved to obey his commands. Touya and Kazuo Fujita made their way across the corpse-strewn ground to the dazed eighteen-year old, but she didn't register their presence until the auburn-haired officer lightly shook her shoulder. "Miss Takamori," Officer Fujita smiled kindly as she flinched away and turned her horrified gaze on him, "It's alright. Nobody's going to hurt you. The Watch is here now." "He saved me…," Sakura managed faintly though her eyes remained slightly unfocused, "They were going to rape me…but he killed them all… He saved me…" Captain Shimomura frowned as he knelt to look the dazed teenager in the eyes, "Who saved you, Sakura?" "They'll kill him," she murmured in a haunted tone before she gestured vaguely towards the villagers, "Even though he saved me… How can they…?" The Watch Captain signaled to the Officer with him to help the dazed girl to her feet and help him guide her away from all the carnage. Clearly more had happened than he'd expected and the traumatized young woman, unfortunately, was still a witness who needed to be interviewed. He needed her to be coherent. The two watchmen carefully steered the young woman towards the tavern. It was largely vacant at this time of day, so there was a good chance the quiet, homely atmosphere would help her recover enough to tell them what _exactly_ had occurred. Officer Fujita held the door open while his superior helped the platinum blonde-haired teen into the building. He remained by the door in response to a signal from his commander to keep watch and ward away potential interruptions. Touya carefully steered his witness to a quiet table, helped her take a seat, and went to fetch her a warm cup of tea to settle her nerves.

Touya watched closely as, slowly, the horrified and shell-shocked expression faded from the eighteen-year old girl's face and her eyes cleared. She blinked twice before her gaze snapped to the patient silver-haired man's face and her eyes widened in recognition. "I know you," Sakura breathed, "You're Riku's dad…" "That's right. I'm also in charge of the village Watch.," he smiled kindly back, "Captain Touya Shimomura, at your service." "The Watch," the platinum-blonde teen's face paled before it flushed angrily, "What took you so long?! It you had been faster then maybe Vanitas-" She cut herself off and looked away as the Watch Captain stiffened and frowned in concern. "Sakura," the man forced his voice not to show his worry, "What does my godson have to do with anything? I know he went to the beach today with his friends. Were they involved in what happened? Are they safe?" The young woman took a deep breath before she admitted, "I didn't see them. Vanitas was the only one who showed up, and I'm grateful he did… If he hadn't…" She trailed off and shuddered in horror as she thought about what the bandits had wanted to do to her. "Tell me what happened," Captain Shimomura ordered sternly, "I need to know. Not just as the Captain of the Watch, but as a worried parent." "But Riku wasn't there," the eighteen year old frowned. "I'm not talking about Riku," the silver-haired man frowned, "Vanitas is my son in all but blood. Just because my cousin was too blind to see what a brave, kind boy he is doesn't mean _I_ am. I need to know that he's safe. Please tell me." Sakura took a deep, shuddering breath before she whispered, "I think he is… Okay…I'll tell you…but you won't like it…"

Sakura started to recount what she remembered: of her and the children she'd been watching being surrounded by bandits, of the bargain she'd made, of how scared she was, of Vanitas' arrival, of his cold, cruel attitude towards her attackers, of what she remembered of the ensuing fight, of her passing out from the shock of his revelation on top of everything else, and of her waking up to witness his flight from the angry mob. The platinum blonde girl was crying by the end, "He saved me from those bandits, but they _turned_ on him so fast. Just because…" "Because he can use the Darkness," Touya sighed sadly, "I know. I've known since he was eight. This seems to be a pattern for him. His parents discovered it when he used his powers to protect his brother when he was two. His brother discovered it when he stopped my cousin from attacking the younger boy when he was six. My family discovered it after he was forced to kill my cousin after he went mad and tried to murder his whole family when the boy was eight…and he nearly ended up dying in the process. Now this happens. Oh, Vanitas…" He sighed and placed his head in his hands, "I was able to leave out all mention of his powers last time he was forced to kill, but this time… There are too many witnesses. Dammit!" Sakura was stunned, "You…knew…? And you _don't_ hate him for it?" "If I did," Captain Shimomura whispered, "I'd have to hate my wife and son. I have _never_ hated the Darkness. I used to fear it, but after meeting my Mika… How could I?" "Riku….and his mom…," the stunned eighteen-year old blinked before she smiled, "Maybe if we told people about them-" "No," the silver-haired man shot her a stern look, "Trust me. It would only end in them becoming targets as well. You have _no_ idea how firmly entrenched their hatred is, and now that it has been enflamed… It's bad enough that I am at risk of losing Vanitas. I can't lose them, too." "At risk," the platinum blonde teen's face brightened in hope, "So…you think you can save him?" "Maybe," Touya sighed as he straightened up, "At the very least, I may be able to keep them from killing him. I need to double check some laws to see what my options are. Rest assured, though. I am _not_ losing my godson so easily." The young woman lowered her head sadly, "I'm so sorry… If I hadn't been so careless…" "This isn't your fault," the Watch Captain shook his head, "You were just unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Vanitas would tell you the same." She sniffled slightly and whispered, "In case I don't get the chance to do so myself… Could you tell him something for me?" "Of course," Captain Shimomura reached over and patted her shoulder gently, "What is it?" "Thank you," she met the Captain's blue eyes solemnly, "Thank you for saving me. I owe you so much! I'll never forget that! Never! Never…" "I'll tell him," the silver-haired man promised, "Now I need you to promise me something…" "No one will learn of Mrs. Shimomura and Riku," the young woman vowed firmly, "Not from me. I give you my word as a Takamori."

Touya left Officer Fujita to keep an eye on the Takamori girl while he returned to the village gates to collect the statements from the rest of the witnesses. No matter how much he wanted to race home and do…something – he honestly wasn't sure if he wanted to hug the boy, yell at him, or both – to his godson, he still had a responsibility to his men and to the village. Even if he did want to scream at some of them right now. He was deeply concerned when, upon his return, he saw that the two men he'd sent to calm the villagers had dark looks on their faces themselves. This did not bode well. "Your _godson_ ," Keiji, a black-haired man, spat as his commanding officer drew near, "is a _monster_! Did you know he was capable of this?!" "If you mean killing to protect an innocent person," the Watch Captain answered calmly, "then yes. He did the same when faced with my cousin's insanity. This is just on a larger scale. "Not that," Yukio, who had white hair, shook his head sharply and scowled, "Did you know he could use Darkness?! And use it to create _monsters?!_ " "What are you talking about," Captain Shimomura blinked in surprise, "What monsters? Sakura didn't mention _anything_ about monsters when I questioned her. She did mention he used some strange powers, though." The two men relaxed slightly before the white-haired officer turned to his companion, "See? I told you he wasn't keeping secrets from us. We can trust the captain." Touya flinched internally, but didn't show it on his face, as he felt a twinge of guilt for deceiving his men. He knew he would every last ounce of their trust if he was going to save his godson's life…but they would _not_ trust him if they knew _he_ knew about Vanitas' abilities. Well, except for the monsters. Those were new.

"I trust you've collected the rest of the witness statements, then," the Watch Captain asked his men as he stuffed his guilt down as far as he could; he'd deal with it later. Keiji nodded, "Of course! Why else do you think we were so ticked? Learning that one of those damned Dark users was living here for so many years…" The black-haired man trailed off and scowled darkly before he continued, "Light, that pisses me off _so much_! We have to do something!" "You realize," Captain Shimomura stated coldly, "that we are officers of the law first. We _cannot_ let our _personal_ feelings get in the way of our doing our jobs. We have all the witness testimonies, and I will be going over the ones you collected later, but we still need _Vanitas'_. We _must_ be fair and give him a chance to explain his actions. _Then_ we must determine if there is, in fact, any _legal_ reason for us to act against him." The two men made to protest before their Captain raised his hand and looked at them sternly, "I do not recall _ever_ seeing a law that stated that using Darkness was a crime _regardless_ of public opinion. I will need to check for myself. If it turns out that there _is_ no legal restriction against it…then it will be our _duty_ to _protect_ the boy. Can I trust you to put your own feelings aside and fulfill your oaths? Or do I need to dismiss you from the service?" The two officers looked at each other uncertainly before Yukio took a deep breath and turned to face his commanding officer, "I will not fail you, Captain. As much as it _pains_ me…if it comes down to it…I will _protect_ the little monster." "You can count on me as well," Keiji folded his arms uncomfortably and sighed, "but I reserve the right to complain about it." Touya smiled faintly as he teased his subordinate, "You? Not complain? The world will end first." The white-haired officer laughed at the insulted look that covered his dark-haired partner's face, "So true!"

By the end of the day, Touya had gone over all the witness statements his men had collected and gotten started on the initial paperwork. He also listened closely to his subordinate's casual chatter around the Watch House; there seemed to be a mix of opinions as word of Vanitas' abilities spread. Of the thirty men and women in the Day Watch, ten were indifferent, nine were sympathetic, and eleven thought the boy was a menace and should be arrested if not executed on the spot. Fortunately, they also knew their duty to uphold the law when reminded by their peers; they would not act on their desires unless given permission. The Watch Captain showed no sign of his own feelings on the matter as he dismissed the Day Watch, debriefed the ten men and women of the Night Watch on the day's events, gave them the same speech he had Keiji, Yasuo, and the rest of the officers of the Day shift regarding duty to the law over personal feelings, and headed home himself. He needed to have a talk with his family; godchildren included. 'The one upside," Captain Shimomura admitted to himself, 'is that with all the legal books I have in my study I'm bound to find _something_ that can save Vanitas. I can't bear to think of what'll happen if I can't. He's _family_ …but I swore an oath…to put duty before self… Kingdom Hearts, _please_ don't make me have to kill my godson! That would break my Heart… Please… _Please_ let me find something that will save his life! Something! _Anything_!' The silver-haired man swallowed hard as he paused in the shadows next to the mayor's house and fought down his tears. "Please," he whispered desperately, "He's like a son to me… I _can't_ lose him like this… Please…"

Riku was waiting patiently in the living room when his father came home and took in the exhausted expression on his face. "You know," the silver-haired boy stated flatly. "About Vanitas," Touya sighed tiredly as he slumped into his chair, "Most of it. I still need to get his side of the story…then work out how I can _legally_ get him out of this mess… The fact that he can _apparently_ create monsters that look like Heartless out of nothing really has people freaked out. We got so many calls…" "They aren't made out of nothing," the aqua-eyed boy folded his arms, "The Unversed are made of Darkness and his emotions. They are completely loyal to him, so people don't need to worry about being attacked out of nowhere. If he hasn't set them on anyone by now then he isn't going to _ever_." "You _knew_ ," the silver-haired man gaped, "How long?!" Riku frowned thoughtfully, "Eh, since Vanitas' first day with Ms. Kaitou. Mom suggested summoning them as a means of calming himself down. It worked." "Mika knows too," the off-duty Watch Captain yelped. "So do Sora and the rest of our gang," the silver-haired boy admitted, "Sora and Mom have known the longest. The rest found out only last year. Apparently, he's been able to create the most basic variety of Unversed since about a week after he came out of his coma. Thenext two varieties he can call up he worked out maybe four days before I found out. He's currently limited to ten varieties as far as I know." "And you all thought it was a good idea to keep this from me," Touya frowned. The aqua-eyed boy coughed awkwardly, "Uh, you and the rest of the household. He was kind of afraid of how everyone would react." The silver-haired man sighed before he buried his eyes in his palms and slumped forwards so that his elbows rested on his knees, "I can't say I blame him for that. It's a bit of a shock. You say these Unversed aren't dangerous, though?" Riku shook his head, "Not unless he wants them to be." "Then that's good enough for me," the Watch Captain stated flatly as he sat back up and gave his son a questioning look, "Where is Vanitas anyways?" "With Sora in their room," the boy sighed before his fists started to clench, "Poor kid hasn't stopped crying for longer than a few minutes since Vanitas got back and basically told us all that the villagers were going to kill him. He's spent that entire time just holding his little brother and alternately soothing the kid or just clinging to him like he can't bear to let go. He _says_ he's accepted his death…but I _don't_ think he's accepted the pain it's going to cause Sora and now that he's been faced with it… Dad, I think he's breaking again." Touya frowned in concern before he fixed his son with a serious stare, "Then I _definitely_ need to have a talk with all of you. Including your mother. I'll go fetch her. You grab Sora and Vanitas. Take them to the library. We'll speak there." "You think you can help," the silver-haired boy questioned hopefully. "Maybe," the Watch Captain admitted as he stood and walked for the stairs, "I can't make any promises yet, but…I'm still going to try."

Soon the whole Shimomura family, plus the Yagami brothers, were seated on the large, fluffy couches in the library. Touya had chosen the library partially for the comfort of those couches, and partially because it was private. Sora was still sniffling and his eyes were red from all the crying he'd been doing. Vanitas was sitting next to him and just looked hollow as he stared blankly off into space. Mikazuki was seated on the other side of the depressed brunette and looked worried, but held her tongue as she honestly had no idea what was going on. Riku was seated on the couch facing the two brothers, had his arms folded, and was frowning as he shifted his gaze between his two best friends. Mr. Shimomura sat next to his son and sighed as he prepared himself for what was, most likely, going to be a painful talk. "Vanitas," the Watch Captain addressed his godson firmly causing the boy to focus his empty gaze on the man, "before we start I need you to give me your account of what happened earlier. Yours is the only statement we haven't collected." Hollow golden eyes blinked slowly before the boy responded in a toneless voice, "What more can I add? If you've heard everyone else's version you should know everything you need." "I still need _your_ side of the story," the silver-haired man pressed, "All I have are twenty-six accounts that are _heavily_ biased against you and one that supports your actions. Besides, it's procedure to collect the statements of _all_ witnesses to an attempted rape…not to mention the following bloodbath you seem to have unleashed." "I don't regret it," the hollow-eyed boy stated flatly, "I told them to get away from her or that I would kill them. They didn't. So I kept my word. Not my fault they were idiots. There. You have my statement." "Vanitas," Touya rubbed his forehead in exasperation, "That's not a statement. Just tell me what happened. Preferably in detail." Abruptly, the black-haired boy's expression hardened and his eyes flashed dangerously, "You want detail? Fine. Don't blame me if you get nightmares though. Sora, cover your ears. I don't want you to hear this." Sora obeyed silently and clenched his eyes tightly shut before Vanitas continued in a cold voice, "On our way back from the beach Riku and I heard a scream coming from the village. I wasn't willing to risk the others getting involved in something dangerous, so I summoned a Flood to scout out the situation." "What is a Flood," Mr. Shimomura interrupted, "Is it one of those Unversed Riku mentioned?"

Vanitas shot an annoyed look at his silver-haired best friend before he continued, "Yes. They're the most basic type and are borne from my irritation. They are also the smallest, quickest, and stealthiest of all the types I can currently create. That's why I chose it as a scout. It returned after a minute and told me everything I needed to know. That there were bandits in the village. That they had Sakura and the kids she'd been keeping an eye on at the beach surrounded. That she was terrified enough for their safety that she was willing to offer herself up to them _willingly_ to do whatever they wanted with. I knew _exactly_ what that would be and I _was not_ going to let that happen. I made the others head home through Riku's Dark Portal without me. I summoned nine Bruisers and eleven Scrappers. They're both much bigger, and _much_ more dangerous than Floods. I told them to hide in the Dark Corridors until I snapped twice. I ran for the village and got there in time to see them tugging at Sakura's dress. I yelled at them to get the hell away from her. Their leader turned and dismissed me as a threat. We had a little…conversation where I basically told him that I was not only _willing_ to kill, but that it would _not be my first time_. I then told them to leave before I killed them all. He still doubted that I could do much against all twenty of them. I knew there was no way they'd take me seriously unless I proved just how deadly I could be. So I ran at full speed for one of the bandits and punched him in the leg. It snapped in half and he fell to the ground screaming. I considered letting him live, but I also know how useful a tool fear can be. I decided I should finish what I started…and burned him alive with a Dark Fira. Unfortunately, they didn't respond the way I had hoped. Their leader ordered them to kill me, so I knew I'd have to keep my word. I signaled my Unversed. They appeared. We attacked."

Vanitas took a deep breath before continuing, "I found Sakura in the melee and called up a Dark Shield to keep her safe. Well, after I killed a bandit who was too close with a Dark Aura to the chest. Turns out it leaves a pretty big hole. Kind of gross seeing his insides like that. She was so scared. She didn't know what the Unversed were, so I did what I could to alleviate some of her fear by telling her what they were. I also told her the truth about what I am. There was no point in hiding it by then. She fainted. I was about to leave when I felt this terrible pain in my chest. Nine of my Unversed had just been killed. It turns out I _can_ feel it when they die and it feels like _I'm_ dying too. I commanded the remainder to retreat and leave the rest to me. There were only five men left. They would be easy enough to take care of. I left the safety of the Shield and I took out the first four in short order. The first one I drove my fist through his heart. The feeling of it bursting on impact was pretty gross. I snapped the next one's neck with a spin kick at full strength. The third I took out by firing a full-powered Dark Aura directly into his face. He didn't have a head after that. The fourth I cast Dark Thundara on which basically cooked him alive. He certainly _looked_ charred when he fell to the ground, and honestly I can't say I'm fond of the smell of burning flesh. Not killing anyone that way again if I can avoid it. Anyways, the only one left by that point was the leader who refused to consider me a threat. He didn't think that anymore. He was terrified. So I figured I'd give him the chance to go down fighting. I offered to fight him in a duel to the death while holding my speed and strength back to his level. He was still a dead man, but I wanted the satisfaction of seeing the light leave his eyes as I cut him down. I was moving too fast to get that satisfaction from the others I'd killed. He accepted my challenge while also threatening to burn down the village and kill everyone if he won. We fought, he made a fatal mistake, I sliced his side open, he dropped his sword as he fell, and I finished him off by decapitating him with both my borrowed blade and his dropped one. Then just to make my feelings towards his kind _perfectly_ clear I stabbed both blades through the back of his headless corpse. Then I waited for the villagers to get over their shock and react to my actions. Honestly, their reaction was pretty much what I had always expected. They wanted me dead. They probably still want me dead. I didn't care though. Sakura was still safe. She hadn't been raped. I don't even _like_ Sakura that much. She confuses me. So what if they think I'm a monster now more than ever before. Last _I_ checked monsters don't save people especially ones they don't particularly care for. I don't care what they do to me now. I know for a fact that _I am not a monster_!"

Vanitas tapped his brother on the shoulder to let him know he could uncover his ears before he turned back to his godfather and finished coldly, "Was that enough _detail_ for you?" Touya, who had not changed his facial expression from one of polite interest the entire time, smiled and nodded, "Indeed it was. I admit I was wondering how some of those corpses' wounds had been inflicted. None of the other witnesses could make out much from where they were standing. Your account will clear that up." "I just told you how I _personally_ killed seven men," the black-haired boy deadpanned, "while creatures I created from my own emotions killed the rest. In detail. And you aren't fazed. What the _hell_ do you see at work that lets you manage that?" "Eh, basic was worse," the silver-haired man shrugged, "If we had time I could tell you _so many_ stories. I _can_ tell you that my hands aren't much cleaner, though. If it helps, I'm honestly glad you killed them. Rape victims often never get over the event, particularly those who have been raped by multiple assaulters in short sequence. Some slip into a catatonic state that they never wake up from out of sheer trauma. Some blame themselves for being too weak to fight off their attackers and resort to self-harm to punish that weakness. Some even take their own lives because they just can't take the pain of what they endured anymore. I've seen it before. You saved Sakura from that fate. Do I _like_ that you had to go so far to save her? No. I'm an officer of the law. Such extremes are something I was trained to reject back in basic unless there was no other option. You didn't have my training, though. Plus you are still physically a child. Your options were pretty limited. So I honestly can't, and don't, hold what you did against you."

"Why did you specify physically," Riku asked his father. The boy was, quite frankly, stunned, and slightly horrified, by his best friend's casual delivery of how he'd basically slaughtered an entire group of bandits single-handedly. He couldn't quite reconcile the cold-blooded killer he now knew his friend could be with the caring, loyal, occasionally mischievous boy he'd known for as long as he could remember. Touya sighed, but did not look away from his godson as he responded, "Because I honestly doubt that he has been a child, emotionally, for a very long time. No child would have had the focus and drive needed to stop Akira when they were so badly injured. They'd have given in to the pain. He didn't. Am I wrong, Vanitas?" He narrowed his eyes slightly as he spoke the final sentence and Vanitas knew there was no point in maintaining this part of his mask. So he didn't. "The beginning of the end of my childhood came," the golden-eyed boy stated bluntly, "when I was _two_. That's when my abilities first manifested and Akira flat out told me that he'd punish me if I kept using them. I couldn't obey because they pretty much triggered on instinct that first year. Even after I gained control, though, I didn't stop. I instinctively recognized that they would only get stronger as I aged, _and_ that I _needed_ to train with what I knew so that I could _maintain_ that control. By the time I was _five_ , it was pretty much over entirely. Any innocence I may have had left was pretty much destroyed when he started trying to kill me for real. Also by that point I was strong enough to level the farmhouse if my control ever slipped, and I knew it. Kind of hard to keep a child-like outlook when you are fully aware of the fact that you could _kill_ everyone you care about just by slipping up even once. Between the abuse and my own sense of responsibility…I didn't have a choice. I'm well aware that I grew up too fast. I couldn't let on, though. Not going into the reasons. Just know I have them. Anyways, I pretended as best as I could to be a normal kid. I must be one _hell_ of an actor because you're the first to call me out on it. Not like it matters anymore anyways…" The dark-haired boy scowled as he finished and looked away; he didn't _like_ telling other people about his problems. It made him feel weak, and he _hated_ feeling weak more than _anything_ …well, except Akira.

"Why do you think it doesn't matter," Mikazuki finally asked; she was less shocked by her godson's calm delivery than her son had been. Instead, she felt horribly sad that her late cousin-in-law's abuse had made him so jaded, and was honestly afraid for his life now that he'd revealed his powers. "Because I'm living on borrowed time as it is," Vanitas stated calmly, "I doubt it's going to last much longer than a few days at most. I figure that's how long it'll take for the _entire_ village to be screaming for my destruction. You won't be able to protect me from that, and I'm not going to ask you to. In fact, I flat out _forbid_ it. _I'm_ the one they want dead. Not you guys. I'm willing to go peacefully if it means the people I care for will stay safe…" Touya frowned as he recalled what Marcus had confessed to him about the martyrdom complex he suspected the boy had. Being faced with his godson's willingness to surrender his life for their sakes…he had to admit that his friend's suspicions might be right as he watched his family's reactions. Sora's eyes had started tearing up again and he looked as though he was about to burst out into another fit of crying. Riku was shaking his head in firm denial; there was _no way_ he was going to just stand aside and let his _best friend_ give himself up without at least _trying_ to save him. Mikazuki just looked deeply saddened by the fact that the boy she loved like a son accepted his death so calmly, yet she also looked slightly proud. She reasoned he must love _them_ just as deeply, if not more so, to be willing to die for their sakes. The silver-haired man took a deep breath as he rested his chin on his folded hands before he stated, "You might have more of a chance of making it out of this alive than you think." Everyone's eyes snapped sharply to the Watch Captain's calm face as he continued, "I know for a fact that it is not a crime to be able to wield Darkness _anywhere_ in Lux. This was one of the first things we learned in basic, and it honestly depresses me when I realize how many of my officers seem to have forgotten or disregarded this. What I _don't_ know is whether or not there are consequences for persecuting a revealed wielder. If there are, I will have a lot more options available to keep you out of their hands. If not…well, we can't technically arrest you because you did nothing wrong according to the law of the land. However, it also means that my options will be a lot more limited. I'm _pretty_ sure I can keep the villagers from lynching you, and my more bigoted subordinates are dutiful enough that they won't break their oaths simply because they hate you. Besides, if they try I have the authority to not only expel them from the force, but I can arrest them on the spot and _they know it_."

He smirked slightly at that before he continued, "My point is you don't _have_ to sacrifice yourself. It might not make me popular, but they won't actually do anything to me. The villagers know full well what the consequences of attacking an Officer of the Law are. As Captain of the Watch I can call in outside aid from the Regional Guard. Hell, if it gets bad enough I can go straight to the Regional Governor and ask him to call the _Royal_ Guard in. If they try _anything_ I consider to be a threat…I'll _make_ that call. My oath demands no less of me." Riku was marveling at the fact that his father could call in the _Royal Guard_ if the situation deteriorated too far before he caught on to that last bit, "What oath?" "The oath of service I made before the Regional Governor when I was sworn in as Captain of the Watch. 'I, Touya Shimomura, do swear before all the powers of the land to protect the King's People, maintain the King's Peace and uphold the King's Law. To put duty before self at all times in the service of that Law. If my authority alone is not enough, then I will call for whatever aid is necessary to see that both Peace and Law remain inviolate. If need be I will lay my life down for the sake of the People. If I should forsake this duty and oath for any reason then let the full force of the Law which I have betrayed fall upon me. Before King, Country, and People so do I swear.' It just so happened that the King himself was present that day, so I've always taken it very seriously," Touya replied. "So Vani doesn't have to die," Sora finally spoke up for the first time since he'd arrived, "Really?" "No," the silver-haired man replied firmly, "He most definitely does _not_."

Touya retreated into his study not long after he assured Sora that his older brother would survive this mess. He had a _lot_ of research to do. He did, however, relay Sakura's gratitude for Vanitas' actions first. The dark-haired boy was a bit stunned by the message, but accepted her thanks though not without denying the whole 'owing him' thing. The silver-haired man actually ended up spending the night in that room and only managed to stay awake by consuming copious amounts of black coffee. The dedicated Watch Captain spent the rest of the next day in there as well as he poured over every legal book he owned. The walls were covered in bookshelves, so he had a lot to go through. Most of his books covered only the local laws and restrictions that were normally the domain of a rural Watch Captain while the rest mainly covered the regional laws he was likely to have to deal with. However, he was _positive_ that he had at least one volume that covered the laws that applied to the entire kingdom. It likely wouldn't have much detail, but just having the evidence that those laws _existed_ should be enough to prevent the villagers from doing anything rash. Finally, late that evening, he found the book he was looking for. "There we go," he sighed tiredly, "I knew you existed. Now let's see what you've got for me." As he'd feared it wasn't much; the book confirmed that being a Darkness user was not a crime. It also went on to state that wrongful persecution of Darkness wielders, and those with only a Dark affinity, was punishable by a heavy fine. The book neglected to state the exact amount. Furthermore, it stated that _killing_ a person just because they could use Darkness or had a Dark affinity was punishable by imprisonment, though it did not specify for how long.

Touya was honestly somewhat disappointed; the book made it clear that what the villagers _wanted_ to do to Vanitas was illegal, but the consequences were so vague that they would not be enough to dissuade them for long. Eventually, their hatred would over-rule their respect for the law of the land…and his oldest godson would most likely die at the hands of a lynch mob. The Captain was troubled by this realization; he wasn't willing to let that happen. Not only because he _refused_ to let the young Darkness wielder die, but also because he didn't think arresting most of the village for murder would end well. There were just too many ways that could result in disaster, and he wasn't willing to risk that. The silver-haired man fell asleep at his desk puzzling over what else he could do to prevent Vanitas' death. Then, early the following morning, the solution came to him; it wasn't an idea he really _liked_ , but it would be his best chance at ensuring both his oldest godson, and Unmei, survived. "Protective custody," he whispered sadly as he watched the sun rise through the study window, "The only way I can keep Vanitas alive…is to lock him away in the Watch House jail… The villagers won't challenge the protection of the Watch…not when they know the forces I can call in to enforce that protection…but it also means…" 'Vanitas can never leave his cell,' Touya finished silently, 'Oh, Light, how is it fair that the only way to _save_ him is to take away his _freedom_?! How can I _do_ this to him?! Oh, Light, Darkness, and Kingdom Hearts I am _so_ sorry, Vanitas… Please forgive me for what I must do…but I can't just let you die. You're my son in _every_ way that matters. This is the only way… _I_ can keep _you_ safe. Forgive me…' The rays of dawn that so closely matched his godson's eyes glinted off of the silent tears that rolled down the heart-sick man's face as he whispered, "I am _so_ sorry, Vanitas…"

When Touya left the house later that morning to head in to the Watch House he was less than thrilled to encounter a mob of villagers, led by the mayor, shouting outside the gate to his house. "Is there a reason," he asked coldly, "you are all screaming such vulgarities at my home?" "You're hiding that monster in there," a woman screamed in accusation, "How could you?!" The Watch Captain replied in the same cold tone, "If you're asking how I can keep a boy who has _legally_ done _nothing wrong_ then my answer is simply this. It. Is. My. Job." "He needs to die," a man shouted angrily, "Who cares about whether he's done anything wrong or not?!" "The law does," the silver-haired man answered as he allowed a chilling smile to spread across his face, "And if you are suggesting what I think you are then I _should_ arrest every. Last. One of you for conspiracy to commit murder. It is against the laws of the land and of the King to persecute _or_ kill someone just because they can use the Darkness. However, I am willing to let you walk away with your freedom intact just this once if you all _go home_ now. I am willing to take _whatever_ steps I feel are necessary to uphold the law. Even exercise the _full power of my authority_ _as Captain of the Watch_. Do _not_ test me." The mayor paled at this threat, "Now Touya, let's not go _that_ far. Everyone! Go home! The monster will slip up eventually…" He trailed off as he turned and made his way through the gradually dispersing crowd. 'No,' Touya thought as he watched the villagers leave, 'He won't…because this will be his last morning of freedom. The worst part of this is that most of those people will probably be thrilled to learn he's been locked away for the rest of his life…they won't see how cruel this is to the people who _care_ about him…to his friends…his family…and to him… Oh, Kingdom Hearts please forgive me…' He took a deep, shuddering breath as he wrestled his own sorrow back under control and headed out; he had subordinates to brief, volunteers to gather, and a plan he honestly hated to execute. Too bad it was his only real option.

Captain Shimomura let no sign of his internal reluctance to carry out his plan show on his face as he finished addressing his subordinates, "… so, you see, the only way we can protect the villagers from themselves is to take Vanitas into protective custody. I know some of you may not be happy about this, so I want you to ask yourselves this: are you _really_ willing to risk Unmei being reduced to a ghost town over _one_ boy?" Even the most bigoted of his officers didn't want to take _that_ chance; their captain's reasoning made sense…just as he'd intended. Touya was no fool; he knew that if his words sounded _too_ sympathetic that those very officers would likely reject his plan. He had to sound as distant and professional as possible if he wanted to have the full force of the Watch behind him. "Now," the Watch Captain swept his eyes over his gathered officers, "I need volunteers to come with me when I make my move. It will be a while as there are still some things I need to prepare. Yet I would rather ask now and give you all time to make your own preparations then at the last minute. Collecting our ward shouldn't be too difficult. I know Vanitas well enough to know that he'll come quietly so long as the situation is explained clearly. My main concern is how the villagers will react when they see him in our custody. They might turn…violent. You will need to be prepared to defend the boy from any attacks they might make. Who among you feels they can handle this task?" Keiji and Yukio both volunteered, as did Kazuo and six others. The silver-haired man felt that ten men and women were enough and stated as much before he headed for the storage room at the back of the building.

The Captain knew his history well, and strongly suspected that one of his long-ago predecessors had likely hoarded law-enforcement paraphernalia that could suppress the Darkness. As much as he hated to admit it, just locking Vanitas up would not be enough to reassure the villagers; some of them had seen him vanish into Darkness to escape them before, and had likely spread the word. The only thing that would pacify them would be if they saw the boy wearing restraints that prevented him from _using_ his powers. It would also go a long way to reassuring his own men that he was not going to let his past affection for the boy prevent him from doing his job. Touya sighed as he walked through the door to the storage room and reflected idly that it was a good thing no one had ever thought to clear this room out. He started rooting through the crates, and spent most of the rest of the morning searching before he found the item he needed. A pair of hand-cuffs that were _covered_ in sigils he recognized from his wife's books as being designed to restrict one's access to the Darkness. It basically ignored the passive abilities like the enhanced physical qualities, but it _would_ prevent the active ones, like the Dark Portal, from being used. Vanitas wouldn't be _totally_ helpless with these on, but he'd certainly be limited. Hopefully, he could arrange matters so that his godson would have the chance to exercise his abilities once they got him to his cell. He was honestly concerned about what the boy had mentioned two nights ago about how he _had_ to practice in order to maintain his control. He was _pretty_ sure he could convince his subordinates that such accommodations would be for their own good in the long run. Still, this was a problem for another time. He had the hand-cuffs, he had his volunteers, and he had his officers' support in his plan. Now he just needed to get the cell that would be his godson's home for the foreseeable future ready, and then…it would be time to put his plan into action.

Vanitas was in the courtyard _trying_ to enjoy his time with his friends when Touya and his men finally left the Watch House. In all honesty, he was kind of failing. He couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if his god-father _couldn't_ save him and how it would affect the others. They'd been so _hopeful_ when Sora had called the morning after his secret was blown with the news that the man was sure he could save the older boy. The dark-haired boy wasn't so convinced. Even if the silver-haired man managed to keep him alive…that didn't necessarily mean things would end well. The past day-and-a-half he'd been imagining everything from a life of house-arrest to being exiled from the village _._ _Alive_ still left a lot of bad outcomes open; at least _death_ was _final_. "You're spacing out again," Roxas accused his best friend as he launched a kick to his left side. Vanitas casually blocked the blow as he blinked back into awareness, "Huh? Oh. Sorry." The six of them had decided to pair off in hand-to-hand exercises after they finished lunch. Namine hadn't been able to make it that day as Baba had needed her help on a tricky house call out on one of the farms. That meant they had to change from normal sparring to this alternative; Riku and the black-haired boy were a _lot_ less likely to injure each other at hand-to-hand. The older twin eyed the taller boy speculatively. He'd been even more withdrawn than usual since he'd admitted that he expected to be killed by the villagers in the near future. He'd also begun staring off into space at random intervals for hours at a time. It was a testament to his reflexes and instincts that he could still defend himself in that state. Their group had always known he was one of the best when it came to combat, but the fact that he was just as good when he wasn't _paying attention_ really drove the point home: Vanitas was a born fighter.

"You've been really out of it lately," Roxas continued after a long pause, "You still worried about the villagers." The golden-eyed boy snorted dismissively as he dropped into a sweep kick before he replied, "I already told you two days ago that I wasn't afraid to die." "But something _is_ bothering you," the blonde pressed as he jumped backwards. "Sort of," the older boy sighed as he broke off his attack, "Is it weird that I'm more concerned about all the bad things that could come about as a result of me _not_ dying than I am about being killed?" "For most people I would say yes," his blonde best friend replied dryly as he also dropped his guard, "but for you I'm starting to suspect that's normal." Vanitas gave a short, bitter laugh before he admitted, "Fair point. It's just…at least when you're dying the time where you're in pain is pretty brief. It ends. Living though… You could spend your whole life in sheer _agony_ and still not die… I'd rather be condemned to death than condemned to _life_. It hurts less…and I am so _tired_ of being in pain." "You actually want to _die,_ " Roxas gaped. The ebony-haired boy waves his right hand in a vague way, "It's not that I want to die exactly. I just started equating 'life' with 'pain' at some point. I may be used to feeling pain, but that doesn't mean I _like_ it. Sometimes death just seems like an improvement. If I'm gonna die, though, I'd rather it be for a purpose. I die in a fight? Fine. I fall protecting someone? Fine. I give myself up so nobody else gets hurt? Fine. Death by broken Heart? Eh, lame, but I suppose I can accept that. Hearts can only take so much damage after all. Any other way? No. Fuck that. Not without a fight." The older twin stared at his best friend blankly before he finally managed a response, "I am slightly weirded out by the fact that you put so much thought into how you _want_ to die." Vanitas shrugged casually, "Eh, I figure it's a side effect of being abused for so long. It could be worse though. I could be suicidal. Be happy my death fixation only goes so far." "We are," Roxas said fervently, "We _really_ are."

The boys' conversation trailed off as the other kids wandered over after having noticed they weren't resuming their spar. "Something wrong you guys," Kairi asked curiously. "Just Vanitas being morbid," Roxas waved their concern off, "and worrying about how much worse being 'condemned to life' is than being killed." "Death ends pain," Vanitas exclaimed defensively, "Life can prolong it! You'd be freaking out too if you had my luck! Seriously, I have a _terrible_ track record when it comes to escaping painful situations! They just keep happening! It's not like I _want_ to die! I just prefer death to some of the alternatives I came up with!" "What could possibly be worse than death," Ventus gaped at the older boy. The black-haired boy started ticking things off on his fingers in response, "Psychological torture, physical torture, exile, having my powers sealed permanently, having my memories of you guys being erased, having _your_ memories of _me_ be erased, being forgotten in general, and half a dozen other things I am not going into because you're already looking a bit freaked." "Only at the fact that you've put so much thought into this," Riku deadpanned. The golden-eyed Darkness wielder shrugged, "Eh, I'm a bit of a pessimist. I can't help it really. After having the worst happen to you for so long you start expecting it to just keep happening _every_ time. I _did_ say I was messed up. Was _not_ lying about that." "Which is why you have me," Sora exclaimed brightly, " _I'm_ an optimist. I balance out your negativity." "To a point," his older brother smirked faintly, "My Heart's a pretty Dark place, but even a little borrowed Light is better than none at all." The other kids gave him confused looks at that to which he responded by rolling his eyes and sighing, "Let's just say I've got some suspicions about why my Darkness acts so weird and leave it at that." The silver-haired boy blinked before he stared at his older best friend, "You aren't thinking… That's a myth!" "And yet it explains _so_ much," the older boy quipped sardonically, "I have no proof, though. I'll probably never know for sure." "Know what," Roxas finally snapped in frustration. "You don't want to know," the two Darkness wielders responded in unison, "Trust us." The other kids started arguing with their two older friends, and tried to get them to open up about what they meant. However, the two older boys refused to talk about it. Finally Vanitas got fed up and swept his hand harshly through the air as he snapped coldly, "Enough! It isn't something you need to concern yourselves with! Now _drop it!_ "

Touya walked into the courtyard at that point and raised his eyebrows in surprise at the ferocity on his older godson's face. "Calm down, Vanitas," he stated mildly, "There's no need to scare them." The dark-haired boy froze and focused on the fact that his god-father was in full uniform; this was _not_ a good sign. "Uncle Touya," Sora grinned and waved, "Did you come up with a way to help my brother?" The Watch Captain sighed tiredly and frowned, "I did. Not too fond of the cost, though." Vanitas swallowed hard, "Cost…to who…?" "All of us," Captain Shimomura admitted, "Vanitas, I'm sorry, but the only way I can keep the villagers from coming after you is to take you into protective custody." "What does that mean," Ventus blinked in confusion. The silver-haired man closed his eyes sadly as his Heart clenched before he responded, "It means…that Vanitas is going to be living at the Watch House for the foreseeable future. Maybe even the rest of his life." "That doesn't sound so bad," Kairi bit her lip hesitantly, "I mean, at least it's nearby and we can still come to visit." Riku was shaking his head slowly; he knew what his father was leaving out. "Except the only accommodations the Watch House has are _jail cells_ ," the silver-haired boy ground out, "You're locking him up?!" "I don't have a choice," Touya admitted sorrowfully, "I spent all of last night trying to work out some other alternative, but this was the only one that _didn't_ end in disaster." Vanitas remained silent; he felt completely numb as his friends continued to protest his being taken away. "How is _imprisoning_ him supposed to help," Roxas finally demanded as his anger over-ruled his other feelings, "That _can't_ be the only way!" "Believe me, this is harder for me than you know," Captain Shimomura admitted hollowly, "but I _refuse_ to let a member of my _family_ die! Not when I can prevent it." "This isn't right," Ventus shook his head violently, "You're locking him up just because the villagers can't get over themselves?! How is that fair!?" "Life isn't always fair," the silver-haired man replied grimly, "If it were…my cousin would have been a loving father who accepted his children for who and what they are…and my job would not force me to break my Heart in order to do what is best for _everyone_." "This hurts you that much," Kairi gasped as her eyes teared up.

Touya nodded solemnly before turned his gaze to his godsons, "Sora…Vanitas… I am _so_ sorry… I wish I could have found another way…" "This can't be real," Sora shook his head in denial as his shock finally broke, "It can't be… I'm dreaming…" "You aren't dreaming, Sora," Vanitas finally broke his silence as he met his god-father's gaze, "You're sure this is the best solution?" "Sadly, yes," Captain Shimomura responded grimly, "Every other plan I came up with…well, let's just say this one was the only one to involve zero casualties." "Then I have no choice," the golden-eyed boy nodded in acceptance before he walked forward to stand before the silver-haired man and questioned, "So how is this all going to work? I'm assuming there's an escort?" "Nine of my men are waiting out front," the Watch Captain confirmed, "That should be enough to get you to the Watch House safely. Also…I need to put these on you." He pulled out the warded hand-cuffs and explained how they worked, "The natural augmentations the Darkness has given you will be unaffected by these, but the rest of your abilities will be completely blocked. It's mostly so the villagers are reassured that you won't be able to leave without our knowing about it. I may be able to arrange it so you don't have to wear them all the time and can get some practice in, but I can't make any promises. You know what sort of fears I have to deal with." The black-haired boy nodded tiredly; he knew only too well. His numbness was slowly fading to be replaced with a deep sorrow and it was taking all of his self-control to keep it hidden from his friends. They would _not_ react well to seeing him cry; he had to stay strong…for their own peace of mind. The ebony-haired boy took a deep, shuddering breath, closed his eyes, and held out his wrists, "Put them on." The other kids watched in disbelief and mounting horror as Touya sighed sadly, bent down, and secured the cuffs. "They aren't too tight, are they," the man asked worriedly, "How do you feel?" "They're fine," Vanitas replied tonelessly without opening his eyes, "The cuffs tingle a bit, so I guess that means they're doing their job."

"Vanitas, you can't be serious," Roxas shook his head in disbelief, "How can you go along with this?!" "I don't want anyone dying because of me, Roxas," his best friend responded as some of the lingering pain he still felt from the Yagami tragedy leaked into his voice, "Once was bad enough. Seeing it happen again...I wouldn't be able to bear it. I'd break. This is…for the best…" Ventus bit his lip as he tried not to cry, "But…things won't be the same without you around… I'm gonna miss you…" Vanitas' eyes snapped open as he stared at the younger twin, 'This kid… Who would miss being called an idiot all the time?! I just don't _get_ him… Still…I appreciate the sentiment.' "I guess," the dark-haired boy finally admitted, "I'll miss you too, Ventus." Ven gaped at the older boy, "You just…said my name… What the… What happened to me being an idiot?!" "Do you _want_ me to call you an idiot," the cuffed boy raised a skeptical eyebrow as a surge of amusement broke through his mounting sorrow. The younger blonde shook his head vigorously which made the taller boy smirk weakly, "Then don't complain. It just didn't seem right to insult you while I'm saying goodbye." Riku had been standing off to the side; he was staring at the ground with his fists clenched, but finally took a deep breath and raised his head, "Vanitas." The golden-eyed boy turned his head to face his silver-haired best friend, "Riku." The aqua-eyed boy held his best friend's gaze before he smirked sadly, "You always were too noble for your own good." Vanitas gave a sad chuckle in response, "Heh. Can't deny that. Keep an eye on Sora for me?" "Always," the younger Darkness wielder promised. "I will too," Kairi reached over and wrapped her arm around the tearful brunette's shoulders as she met her older friend's gaze, "You can count on us both! You won't have anything to worry about while you're away." "Thank you…Kairi," the ebony-haired boy managed a true smile of thanks; that was one less thing he had to worry about.

Roxas, who had been struggling to come to terms with everything, finally stormed over to his best friend and hugged him tightly. "I don't want you to go," he admitted sadly, "You're my best friend…" The older Darkness user briefly cursed the fact that the cuffs prevented him from returning the hug inside his head, but still responded, "I know. You and Riku are my best friends, too. I don't really want to leave you guys…but I also can't bear to let anything happen to you either. You understand, right?" "Yeah," the older twin sighed sadly as he rested his chin on his taller friend's shoulder, "I do… Doesn't mean I like it…" Vanitas frowned at the bitterness in the younger boy's tone, "Hey, Roxas. I need you to do me a favor." "What," the older blonde pulled back and met his best friend's golden gaze questioningly. "Talk to Riku," the older boy stated firmly, "I know how bad your temper can get, and I'm worried your feelings may start feeding _your_ Darkness. I don't want you to lose yourself. I _can't_ lose one of my best friends. Not like that. Please." Roxas' eyes widened slightly in surprise before the seriousness of the situation registered and they narrowed as he nodded firmly, "Don't worry. I won't let myself fall. I promise. Guess I'll be seeing you later then." "Yeah," the golden-eyed wielder smiled weakly as his best friend let him go, "Later…"

Sora finally broke out his shock as Roxas stepped away and the eleven-year old launched himself at his older brother. Vanitas grunted as his younger brother slammed into him and embraced him tightly. "Why," the brunette moaned sadly, "Why does everything bad keep happening to _you_? I hate it…" "Something I've been wondering about my entire life," the black-haired boy admitted, "Still don't have an answer." "Do you really have to go," the younger boy questioned as he raised his head and met his older brother's eyes imploringly. "I do," the taller boy nodded solemnly. The younger sibling sniffled and hugged his brother even more tightly; which made the older boy grunt again and grumble, "Kind of making it hard for me to breathe, Sora." The blue-eyed brunette flinched and loosened his grip, "Sorry! I'm sorry!" "It's fine," the golden-eyed boy replied as he breathed deeply a few times, "No harm done." The brown-haired boy bit his lip as he buried his face in his brother's shoulder, "This isn't fair…" "I know," his older brother leaned his head over so that it was resting lightly on top of his little brother's head, "but when have our lives _ever_ been fair." "I _need_ you, Vanitas," Sora whimpered. "Oh, Sora," the ebony-haired boy smiled softly, "You still don't see it, do you? You're _more_ than strong enough to manage without me. Never stopped me from worrying, but that's what big brothers are for. We worry about our little brothers…even after they don't need us anymore…" The brunette clenched his fists into his brother's shirt as he replied, "It doesn't matter how 'strong' I am! I will _always_ need my big brother. I love you, Vani." "I love you too, Sora," Vanitas murmured back, "Take care of yourself, okay?" The younger boy pulled back slightly and met his older brother's gaze, "I will. I'll come visit you every day!"

The older boy shook his head firmly, "No." "What," his younger brother gaped, "What do you mean 'no'. The cuffed Darkness wielder sighed, "I mean that I won't allow you to do that. If you try I will ask Touya to prevent you from seeing me." "Why," Sora pleaded as his eyes watered with tears. "Because," the taller boy replied sternly, "I don't want the villagers to make _you_ a target. You don't know hate like I do, Sora. I saw it in their eyes. They are so far gone right now that they will attack _anyone_ they see as being sympathetic to me. You'll be safer if you appear to want as little to do with me as possible. As though you'd rather forget _everything_ about me instead of remember and feel the pain of my absence. They won't understand why you continue to care…but they shouldn't lash out if they see you grieving and letting go. That goes for the rest of you too," golden-yellow eyes briefly made contact with those of the rest of his friends as he continued, " _None_ of you are allowed to try and visit me. Ever. I won't let you take that risk. You have to at least _pretend_ to be trying to forget me. I don't want to hear that any of you have gotten hurt…or worse _killed_ …because you _would not stop_ defending me from those people. As long as I know that you're alive and safe…I can tolerate being alone. Please…" One by one, reluctantly, the other kids promised that they would heed his request. Sora was the last to give his assent, but he made one addition. "I promise I won't visit," the brunette vowed as he clasped his older brother's hands in his, "but I will _never_ forget you. None of us will." Vanitas smiled sadly; he was honestly touched by his brother's loyalty, but he knew in his Heart that the boy would be better off if he _did_ forget. They all would. Even though the thought of being forgotten hurt terribly…he was willing to accept it if it meant those closest to his Heart would not grieve his absence. "You should," he whispered before he turned and walked for the door leaving his stunned brother and friends behind.

Vanitas exited the house with his head bowed submissively as Touya rested his hand on the boy's shoulder. They'd agreed that it would be best if the Watch Captain appeared to be urging him onwards; as if the young Darkness wielder was still feeling some reluctance, but was not willing to resist. It was a calculated move to cause as much doubt on the assumption that he was a monster as possible; to make him appear _human_. Little did they know they were about to get a little extra assistance in selling that image. The man and boy were halfway to the nine Watchmen waiting at the gate when Sora came tearing out of the house, latched onto his brother from behind, and buried his face in the back of the older boy's neck. The ebony-haired boy froze in shock and bowed his head slightly, "Sora…?" "You didn't mean that," the brunette whispered desperately, "Tell me you didn't mean that!" The nine men and women at the gate were all watching the dark-haired boy intently to make sure he didn't try anything, so they _all_ caught the sudden look of sheer _agony_ that flashed across his face at whatever his younger sibling had said. They were too far away to catch that faint whispered plea, but they _did_ hear Vanitas' response. "…I'm sorry…Sora," the golden-eyed boy's voice was pained, "I can't…" Keiji and Yukio both felt a twinge of pity lance through their Hearts as they watched the younger boy slowly release his older brother and pull back enough to reveal the tears flowing down his face. "Vanitas," Sora whimpered heart-brokenly, "Please…" That twinge of pity sharpened painfully at what happened next. The older boy turned to face his brother and raised his hands to gently wipe the younger boy's tears away before he gave a quiet, "Goodbye…" Then he stepped back, turned back towards the nine Watchmen, and continued forwards as a single tear slid down his blank face. It was more than clear to _every last one_ of the officers watching that the black-haired boy followed closely by their captain was _deliberately_ masking his true feelings with that blank expression. The fact that a few more tears slipped out when his younger brother fell to his knees on the walkway and simply started sobbing drove that point even further home. The final blow came when he reached them. "Let's go," Vanitas whispered resignedly as he closed his eyes causing several more tears to escape, "I'm done fighting this…"

Vanitas was in a daze as he traveled across the village to the Watch House. He was aware enough to feel grateful that his escort chose to take the most direct route back possible. It didn't stop them from running into more than a few angry villagers on the way back. He couldn't help flinching slightly as they screamed foul threats at him and had to be repelled by the officers escorting him. It wasn't that he was frightened by their words. The dark-haired boy was struggling to keep his emotions in check and the strain was making his Heart ache in warning; their words made his emotions spike which made the pain do the same. The boy was almost tempted to sigh in relief when they arrived at their destination. Touya dismissed his men with the exception of Officer Fujita before turning to his godson, "Follow us. We'll take you to where you'll be staying." Vanitas nodded silently and followed the two men. Kazuo glanced down at the boy as they headed for the stairs at the back of the building, "Hey. I'm sorry all of this has happened. It's still better than dying, though. Right?" The black-haired boy murmured quietly in response, "Death would probably hurt less…" The man frowned in concern at the boy's morose reply, but didn't press the issue. It wasn't his place. They soon reached the back hallway of the Watch House and headed for the rear staircase that led to the basement. The auburn-haired officer kept his hand on the golden-eyed boy's shoulder as they headed down the stairs so that he wouldn't fall; he had no idea that the boy was about as likely to trip as the sun was to suddenly turn into a flamingo with yo-yos. His years of training had left him with an impeccable sense of balance. Touya led the other two down a narrow hall way, around a corner, and to an isolated cell nestled in the far corner of the basement. "I figured you'd prefer to be as far away as possible from the common riff-raff we sometimes have down here, "the Watch Captain explained, "The cell has its own bed, dresser, toilet, and sink. Unfortunately the showers are all the way back over by the stairs, and they're open showers so if you want privacy you have to time your trips to when everyone else is asleep. I'll call Yuki to pack your clothes and sanitary supplies and have Hiroshi bring them down later today, alright?" "Yeah…thanks," the ebony-haired boy replied haltingly. "The gym is right across the hall from your cell," Captain Shimomura continued after a brief pause, "Once I clear it with my men, you can use it for practicing your abilities. Sound good?"

Vanitas blinked as his eyes focused and he looked at the silver-haired man skeptically, "You really think they'll be okay with that?" "They will if I warn them that the alternative is being blown sky high by a self-destructing Darkness wielder," the Captain smirked. "Not the best way to word it, Captain," Kazuo pointed out, "I'm pretty sure if you put it like that he'd be murdered in his sleep. No offense." The dark-haired boy only shrugged passively as his eyes started to glaze back over. " _Anyways_ ," Touya shot his subordinate a pointed look, "you should be comfortable enough here. I'll come down to collect your laundry once a week to wash back home. There's usually an officer down here on patrol, so if you need anything you can ask them. I think that's everything important, so let's get you settled." The Watch Captain unlocked the cell door and Vanitas tiredly walked inside and looked around. The cell was maybe two-thirds the size of his old room on the farm, so while it was definitely on the small side it wasn't really cramped either. The bed was basically a platform held up by chains attached to the wall with a thin mattress on it. The pillow was clearly new, and the bedclothes were about the same quality as what he remembered on the farm; cheap, but comfortable. The dresser was a crudely constructed wooden set of drawers built into the back wall behind the bed. It was clearly designed with function over form in mind. The toilet looked clean enough, though it was a bit chipped in places. The sink was set into the wall opposite the bed and had a tarnished mirror set over it. There was a small window set high up in the wall that was really little more than a grated opening; still, it was enough to let a small shaft of sunlight shine down. All in all, it wasn't the worst he'd had to tolerate.

Touya shut the cell door and locked it as Vanitas heavily sat down on the bed and leaned back against the wall. "I'll be back down later with your things," the silver-haired man promised, "Hopefully, we'll be able to take those cuffs off then, too." The ebony-haired boy hummed indifferently in response; he just wanted the man to _leave_ already, so he could stop holding his emotions in. His Heart was screaming at him in warning that it couldn't take much more. "I'll see you later then," Captain Shimomura bid his godson farewell and left; Officer Fujita followed closely behind. Once he was sure he was alone the golden-eyed boy drew his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, buried his face in the gap between, and finally allowed himself to break down. He shuddered as his body was wracked by the force of his sobs; his pants were getting soaked by his tears, but he couldn't have cared less. The guilt he felt for the pain he caused his friends, for making his brother _cry_ , lashed at him as he wept. The frustration he felt for the villagers' inability to get over their stupid prejudice coiled and snarled in his chest. The fear of being forgotten gnawed at him even though he _knew_ it would be for the best. Above all was the terrible sorrow as he realized he would likely never get to see his friends again, never get to coach his brother again, never spar with Riku and Roxas, never enjoy the peace of the Sanctuary of Rainbows, never go to the beach, never get the chance to sit through one of Mr. Harris' engaging lectures, or any of the things that meant freedom to the boy _ever_ again. "I hate…this," the twelve-year old gasped out between sobs, "Why does…everything…keep going…wrong…? Oh, Darkness…it hurts… Sora…everyone…I don't…want to be…forgotten…but I can't…let you…get hurt… Oh, Kingdom…Hearts why… Why does …my life…have to… _suck_ …so much…? Just…make it… _stop…_ Make…it stop… Please… I can't…take this… I can't…" His breath caught in his lungs as he felt a familiar pain start to build in his chest. "No…," he moaned brokenly, "Not now…" His pleas were for naught as his body was gradually consumed by a merciless onslaught of pure agony; he was having another attack. Already exhausted from his emotional breakdown Vanitas simply didn't have the energy left to fight down his agonized moans and cries as the tremors caused him to fall to the cell floor. This was easily the worst attack he'd ever endured and by the time it finally faded the boy was passed out on the floor in a limp heap with tears still running down his face. The young Darkness wielder looked completely broken…which was not so far from the truth. He had no ideas that these torturous attacks were a symptom of a much greater problem. One that could threaten his life…

 **A/N:** ….Holy shit that was long. Nineteen pages… Some of you are probably a bit curious about what Touya actually looks like. Best description I can give you is Rufus Shinra with Sephiroth's hair color. Seriously, my mental image of this guy is a silver-haired Rufus Shinra in a SOLDIER 1st Class uniform. His voice sounds the same as Crisis Core Zack's Japanese voice… Now go back and read all the chapters he appears in with that mental image and voice template in mind. Yeah, now you know how I felt while writing him. Well kind of. I'm assuming most of you are not asexual. I have no idea how sexually appealing this character is. I just know he looks pretty…and kind of badass. If some of you feel otherwise…then I did good. I did real good. Yes, I did reference Fantasia 2000. I just got a dual disc set of both Fantasias as a late Christmas present and am a bit giddy still…even if the bit with the flamingos was my least favorite segment. Well that and the extra celebrity cameos; Angela Lansbury (BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS! EEEEE!) alone would have been sufficient; or James Earl Jones (SO MANY WONDERFUL ROLES!) Also, just to let you all know, I dropped a _lot_ of hints for events in future books in this chapter. See if you can spot them when they come up. As for that little bit at the ending…eh, we'll see when I fit _that_ bit of detail in. It _is_ plot relevant. I'm just not sure whether it belongs in this book…or later on. Rest assured though, you will learn what these mysterious attacks are _and_ what danger they represent...eventually. Anyways, that's the climax done. Next chapter we start the wind down with Vanitas' friends coming to terms with his absence and the circumstances of his departure. Namine will also be finding out what happened. The one after that will be focused on how Vanitas is faring in his imprisonment (because that's really kind of what it is when you strip away all the good intentions) after a short time-skip. Yeah…I'm not really going to be letting up on him that much. Then we have the resolution chapter for this book. I don't _think_ there are too many plot threads that I need to deal with…but mostly it'll be me wrapping up this portion of our protagonists' character arcs and setting the stage for the next book. Then it's the epilogue which is really more of a transition between books, and then that's it. Book one will be _finished_. I'm ALMOST DONE! YAY! Of course I still have four more books to go after this one… Eh, whatever. The only reason I'm stressed now is because of the time limit I'm under. Stupid college… Otherwise…OH MY GOD, I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN WITH THIS! I LOVE WRITING! WHEE! See you next time!


	20. Changes

**A/N:** Another day. Another chapter. Not sure how long it will be. As I mentioned last chapter there will be no Vanitas in this one. It will be focused purely on my other six main characters and how they are coping. There will be some perspective shifts after the first two paragraphs when the kids split up. Also there will be some time skips. That's right. You heard me. Time skips in chapter longer than a day. Basically I'm going to insert the word {time-skip} in brackets like so. I am covering three years of separation, and how it is affecting these guys as briefly as possible. This is also when I'm going to start building the first relationship between two characters. Any hostile reviews about my pairing preference will be ignored because, quite frankly, I have my own opinions about these things. Do I have my favorite pairings? Yes. Do I read and like stories that have different pairings other than the ones I like? Also yes. Just because _I_ like something doesn't mean _other_ people have to. I keep an open mind. I ask that my readers try to give me the same courtesy. Now let's get started, shall we?

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 19: Changes

The other kids stared at each other as they tried to work out what they should do; what they _could_ do. Sora had raced out of the courtyard close to ten minutes ago and still hadn't returned. Kairi finally huffed and declared, "I'm gonna go look for Sora. He should have come back by now." The red-head ran for the door, and let it slam shut behind her as she darted through. Ventus sighed and looked at the other two boys, "This sucks." Roxas and Riku both nodded in agreement. "The sad thing is," the older blonde groaned, "I'm not all that surprised Vanitas forbade us from visiting. He has that whole thing against us being hurt in any way, remember?" The silver-haired boy nodded, "Yeah, I'm not really surprised either. We really should have seen it coming…especially with how he was acting." "What do you mean," Ven asked. "Weren't you listening to how he was talking," his older brother shot his twin an exasperated look, "All those requests he was making? He wasn't expecting to ever see any of us again. He was saying goodbye for _ever_. Why do you _think_ I'm so upset?" The younger blonde looked back and forth between his twin and the older boy – who was wincing in agreement – in disbelief. "And you didn't think a little heads up for the rest of us would have been appreciated," the younger twin squawked. The aqua-eyed boy shrugged, "Kairi probably knew too. We've been friends for seven years. She probably picked up on the signs. Same with Sora, but the he has a bad habit of ignoring things he doesn't want to acknowledge. You haven't known Vanitas quite as long, so I'm not surprised you missed it. I _am_ a bit surprised you picked up on it, though, Roxas." Roxas shrugged and deadpanned, "It wasn't that hard. I noticed not long after we became friends that we could read each other really well. We've had a _lot_ of silent conversations over the years."

The older blonde then fixed Riku with a serious stare, "By the way, Vanitas mentioned something earlier. Something about the Darkness." The older boy frowned, "What was it?" The older of the Harris twins relayed that Vanitas was worried about Roxas' rather volatile temper feeding the Darkness in his Heart. "Apparently he's afraid that I'll lose myself if I don't learn to rein it in or something. ""Sounds like he had good reason to be," the silver-haired boy cringed, "Excessive negative emotion _can_ result in the Darkness in one's Heart raging out of control. That's why my mom taught my dad how to meditate for when he has bad days at work. I'll have to give you some pointers so that it doesn't end up consuming you." "Wait," Ventus gaped, "That's a risk?!" "There is Darkness in every Heart," the aqua-eyed boy shrugged, "Sometimes it can consume people if it grows too much. Why do you think Heartless are such a problem?" "And Roxas could end up like that," Ven yelped. "Maybe if it hadn't have been caught," Riku replied, "There's no chance of that now though. The technique my mom recommends is pretty basic. It's mostly deep breathing and meditation techniques." Roxas folded his arms impatiently, "So are you going to show me what to do, or we just going to keep talking pointlessly?" The Darkness wielder among them gave the older twin a look, but started the lesson. He directed the agitated blonde to find a comfortable place to sit, settle himself down, and focus only on his breathing. The older blonde followed those directions and soon had the rhythm down. The older boy then moved into the next phase where he directed the first-born twin to direct his thoughts inwards towards his feelings. He told the other boy to grasp them, analyze them, understand them, and – one by one – calm them down. That last step turned out to be the trickiest. They were still working on it when Sora and Kairi came back.

While the three boys were having their conversation – and later lesson in control – in the courtyard, Kairi had been making her way through the house and out the front door. When she saw Sora curled into a sobbing ball on the front walk her initial reaction was one of shock followed by concern. She ran over to her friend, fell to her knees next to the crying boy, and pulled him into a hug. "Oh, Sora," the red-head cooed soothingly, "What happened?" The brunette didn't respond beyond throwing his arms around his female friend and burying his face in her shoulder while still continuing to sob. The eleven-year old girl continued embracing her distraught friend and started running her hand up and down his back for added comfort. Eventually his sobs died down to whimpers and she asked him again, "Sora, what happened? You know Vanitas will be okay, right?" The blue-eyed boy hiccupped slightly before he spoke in a thick voice, "He told me…I should forget him…" Blue-violet eyes widened as the girl gasped, "He what?! When?!" "Before he…walked out…after Uncle Touya," the brown-haired boy whimpered, "It was…quiet. I ran after…because I couldn't…believe he'd really… _say_ that. I begged him…to tell me…I was hearing things…but…I wasn't. Then he just…said goodbye…and left. Why would he… _say_ that?" Kairi bit her lip as her friend raised his tearful eyes to hers; she honestly didn't know how to answer that. Vanitas was not exactly the sort of person one would consider to be easily forgettable. For one thing his looks were far too distinctive, not to mention his attitude, his manner of dress, his abilities, and his...well…creative vocabulary. Having heard some of the other insults their friend had come up with over the years, Ventus had admitted once to the rest of them that he considered himself lucky to merit only an 'idiot'. The point was, the golden-eyed Darkness wielder was _not_ the sort of person you could forget without putting a lot of effort into it…and he'd apparently just instructed the younger brother he _knew_ adored him to do exactly that. This just didn't fit with what she knew of her dark-haired friend.

"How does he expect you to do _that_ ," the red-haired girl finally wondered in disbelief, "How could _anyone_?" Sora shook his head and shuddered as he stifled another sob, "I don't…know. He's my… _brother_. I could…never do that…but…he _asked_ …me too… What should…I do?" Kairi smiled slightly, "Just because he asked doesn't mean you have to do it." "It doesn't," the brunette looked confused as he reached a hand up to rub at his eyes, "But…I've always…done what he asked me to." The red-head gave her friend a look before she raised the hand she had been rubbing his back with and bopped him lightly in the head. The blue-eyed boy yelped and rubbed his head, "What was that for?" "Sora, you dork," the blue-violet eyed girl grinned, "You don't always have to do the things people ask. You can say no if it feels wrong. Does forgetting Vanitas feel wrong?" The brown-haired boy nodded vigorously to which his female friend replied, "Then don't do it. It's that simple." Sora stared at his red-haired friend before he frowned in concertation, "But… _not_ doing what he asked me too feels wrong too…" "Which feels more wrong," Kairi challenged after a brief pause. "Forgetting him," the brunette replied with a faint sniffle. "There you go then," the red-haired girl grinned, "I'm pretty sure the only reason not doing as he asked feels bad is because you are so used to doing it. Breaking a habit always feels wrong at first. You just have to have the will to do it anyways. How do you think I got over my nail-biting problem?" Understanding washed over the blue-eyed boy's face at that. He was still sad, but he felt a lot less devastated. Vanitas' request had _really_ hurt him. The eleven-year old girl stood up and held out her hand to her friend, "C'mon. Let's go back to the others." The brown-haired boy smiled faintly and took his female friend's hand, "Okay…"

Once they reunited the five kids didn't really do much more talking. Roxas was still trying to work out the last step of the control exercises and needed all of his focus for that. Ventus was thinking hard about what they were going to tell Namine about all of this; he was probably going to end up leaving it to his twin. He liked the girl a lot, but he just didn't 'click' with her the way his older brother did. The younger blonde was privately entertaining theories of his own about that, but they weren't on his mind right then. Kairi and Riku were both trying to comfort a still depressed Sora; he wasn't crying his eyes out anymore, but he was definitely still upset by what had happened. The brunette endured their concern for a little while before he claimed that he was going to his room; he wanted to be alone for a bit. The red-haired girl and silver-haired boy watched him go uneasily, but didn't try to follow him. The older boy ended up leaning against the pillars as he thought about everything that had led up to his older best friend's incarceration. A part of him felt like he still should have been able to prevent this whole mess; he just wasn't sure what exactly he could have done. It was really bothering him. The sole female was also lost in her thoughts; however, hers mostly revolved around Sora. He was her best friend, and she cared for him deeply. She hated to think about what all of this could end up doing to him. She didn't _want_ him to change!

Things were quiet until Roxas finally let out a relieved sigh, "I think I've got it. I feel a bit calmer now." Riku shook himself out of his thoughts and looked over at the older twin, "That's a good sign. Think you'll be okay now?" "Yeah," the older blonde nodded. Ventus also spoke up at that point, "We should probably be going. Namine still needs to be told about all of this, and I'd rather catch her before she comes over here." "Ah, geez," his older brother cringed, "You're right. Sorry guys, we've gotta go." The other two nodded in understanding, and with that the two twins headed out. Kairi hung around for a little longer before she headed inside to check up on Sora before she left to go home. She wasn't particularly eager to see her parents after everything that had happened, but she needed to make it clear to them about how _their_ bigotry was hurting _her_. The red-haired girl knew that her parents loved her even if they were terrible about showing it sometimes; the fact that they had continued to let her hang around Vanitas proved that much. She was certain that if she was fully honest with them about what had happened and how upset it all made her that they would be shaken in their convictions. Her dark-haired friend had taught her well; she knew just what buttons to press to make them _doubt_. That left only Riku in the courtyard, and he'd already sunk back into his thoughts.

Namine blinked in surprise when she and her master returned to their hut; she hadn't been expecting to see the twins waiting right outside the door. "Why if it isn't Roxas and Ventus," Baba smiled kindly, "How are you today?" Ventus flinched as a dark look flashed across his older brother's face, "Uh, we could be better. It's been a rough few days…" "Ah yes," the old healer nodded with a slightly saddened expression, "That entire mess about the bandits and the backlash against poor Vanitas. Why don't you come in and you can tell me what's troubling you." Ven blinked, "Eh? Really?" "I'm a healer, dear," the old woman pointed out, "Not all the hurts I treat are of the body. Sometimes you need to treat the mind as well. Now come. I'll make you some calming tea and we can talk." The younger twin scrunched his face a bit, "I'm…not too fond of tea." "Even honey mint," the healer's apprentice prodded. "Wait," the talkative blonde gaped, "That's a flavor?! Since when?!" "Since my master discovered kids liked it," the blonde girl smiled, "It's her own special blend." Roxas finally spoke up, "Sounds good to me. Let's go, Ven." Baba stepped passed the twins, opened the door to her hut, and walked inside with the three children following. She directed her apprentice to help her friends get comfortable in the front room while she headed into the small kitchen alcove to make the tea. Both boys were somewhat surprised to see the old woman call up a small Fire spell to heat the water in the kettle; they'd had no idea the kindly old healer could use any offensive spells. The older twin was slightly antsy about the upcoming talk; his twin had already convinced him that _he_ should be the one to tell Namine about what had happened, and he was worried about how she would take it. He didn't want to see her cry. In fact, if he was honest with himself, it was extremely important to him that she never be sad ever. He didn't know why, but that was how he felt.

Soon the old woman was back with the tea and watching the boys intently. Slowly the twins started to relay everything that had happened that day in alternating sequence. Ventus started by outlining their morning and Vanitas' distant behavior. Then Roxas picked up with the conversation he'd had with his best friend while they were sparring. Ven took over again with Captain Shimomura's arrival and the solution he'd been forced to resort to. The older twin flinched at the growing look of horror on his female friend's face as he continued with their dark-haired friend's response to all of this, his final farewells and requests, his firm restriction against visits, and his departure. "It's not right," the older blonde finished vehemently, "Vanitas shouldn't have to be locked away like that! It's just not _right_!" Baba sighed sadly, "I am inclined to agree. It is terrible unfortunate that so many people are so blinded by their own misconceptions that young Touya should be forced to make such a call. Vanitas must be suffering as well. I can't have been easy for him to give up his freedom like that. He really is such a sweet, brave boy…" Namine sniffled a bit, "Vanitas… I didn't get to say goodbye… We're never gonna see him again…and I never got to say goodbye…" She started to cry quietly which prompted Roxas to jump out of his chair and rush over to comfort her; he embraced her gently as she clung to his arm and leaned into his chest. "I'm gonna miss him," she whimpered. "I know," the older twin replied gently, "I'm gonna miss him too…" Ventus couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face; it looks as though his suspicions were right. His twin had a _huge_ soft spot for the healer's apprentice. It kind of sucked about the conditions the revelation came about in, but Ven was just glad to have them confirmed. It abruptly occurred to the younger twin that this may be a good thing to encourage; that maybe if the two got closer they could help each other through their feelings about this mess. Then he wouldn't have to worry about his brother's Darkness problem! There was also the benefit of getting to tease said sibling over his future relationship! There was no downside. The younger blonde started making his plans; maybe he'd even ask Kairi for help. She was a girl. Girls liked matchmaking. Roxas would thank him later.

Sora was curled up on his bed cuddling with one of Vanitas' shirts; he needed the comfort of feeling close to his brother. The older boy had clamped down so hard on his end of the link that the only sense he had of his brother was the strong feeling of connection in his Heart. It was the link itself that let him know his older sibling was still there. Still that wasn't quite enough for the younger boy. He'd never had his brother _not_ physically around before, and the shock of the sudden change was extremely jarring. Even when he'd been in his coma, his body was still present. For his older brother to just not _be there_ …the brunette honestly had no idea how to handle this. Then there were his feelings towards his godfather and the villagers to consider. As far as Touya was concerned, he wasn't angry with the man. It was pretty clear to the boy that he'd hated the solution he'd been forced to go with. The kind-hearted boy was pretty sure the man would need a lot of hugs to make it clear to him that the younger Yagami didn't blame him for anything. The brunette nodded decisively as he made up his mind. There were going to be _days_ of spontaneous hugging in his godfather's future. Sora's feelings towards the villagers were considerably more mixed. On the one hand he was angry at them for not giving his brother a chance, on the other he was sad that they were so scared of something that _he_ saw as being a _good_ thing. He was confused about how they couldn't see that their blindness was hurting more people than they probably intended. He was also curious about how, if they hated his brother so much, they hadn't gone crazy like Akira did. Did that mean they didn't hate Vanitas as much as _he_ had? If so, did that mean he might be able to make them see things his way? Of course, the problem with that was that his older brother had blatantly forbidden him and the others from showing that they still were willing to fight for him. Maybe if he pulled that trick he learned from Ventus and just looked really pathetic they'd realize how much their blind fear and hatred had hurt _him_. The older boy _had_ said multiple times that it was _him_ that they hated; that they wanted to hurt. Maybe if he reminded the villagers that their actions had caused collateral damage they'd feel some regret.

He was still pondering all of this when Kairi knocked on the door and poked her head in. "Hey," she asked, "You doing alright?" "I just don't _get_ it," Sora sighed sadly. "Get what," the red-haired girl wondered as she took a few steps inside the room. "I don't get why the villagers are so afraid of my brother," the brunette continued, "or why they hate him so much. He never did anything to hurt them. I know Mr. Harris talks about prejudice and discrimination and bigotry a lot in class, but…I don't get _why_ people behave that way in the first place. Why can't they just be nice?" The girl sighed sadly as she walked over and sat next to her friend, "I wish I knew… You're right. It just doesn't make sense…" The two eleven-year olds sat in silence for a few minutes before the blue-eyed boy spoke again, "You know…I think my brother wasn't just asking me to forget him…" Startled blue-violet eyes focused on the boy as he continued, "I think…he was asking for _everyone_ to forget him…so that we wouldn't _miss_ him…" "But forgetting him would hurt a lot worse," Kairi protested. "You know that," Sora grinned sadly, "and I know that, but I don't think _he_ does. His head is kind of messed up like that. I think…Akira hurt him worse than I ever really could have imagined… My brother doesn't see the world quite right any more…not if his logic is _that_ broken…" The red-haired girl bit her lip and wrung her hands uneasily, "That…explains way too much…" "Yeah," the brunette sighed, "but there's no way we can _fix_ it right now… Vani has already been taken away.." He looked over at his female friend and smiled, "I keep hoping that maybe if the villagers realize how much they're hurting _us_ that they'll start to see how wrong they are. Maybe then I'll get my brother back. Do you think I'm being silly?" "Considering I plan on trying the same thing on my parents when I get home," Kairi smiled back, "No, I don't think that at all." Sora beamed at his friend and reached out to hug her with one arm, "Thanks, Kairi. You're the best."

Riku sighed and looked up at the sky, "This stinks…" He still couldn't work out what it was he could have done to change things so that his best friend would still be free. The problem really seemed to be that he just wasn't important or intimidating enough for the villagers to take seriously. In short, he was still just a kid. This was a frustrating realization for a boy who prided himself on his strength and maturity…well, relatively speaking. The only real competition he had in terms of maturity in their group was Vanitas. He was _usually_ the more mature of the two, but sometimes…he lived up to his title of 'annoyingly devious and stubborn asshole'. Honestly, the older boy was just too fond of messing with the people who annoyed him to resist acting out. The silver-haired boy groaned and banged the back of his head into the pillar he was leaning against a few times. He already missed his dark-haired rival/ best-friend, and it hadn't even been a full hour since he'd been taken away. 'If I were older,' the young Darkness wielder thought bitterly, 'and stronger they wouldn't have _dared_ try and take him away.' Riku stiffened and focused on that thought; maybe that was it. Maybe he just needed to become stronger. Then no one could ever take his friends from him again. He'd be able to protect them. The more he considered the idea the more it appealed to him. The silver-haired boy nodded firmly and smiled to himself; getting older was something he'd have to be patient for…but he could _definitely_ control how fast his strength increased. "I'll do it," he whispered, "I'll train harder than ever every day to become strong. Strong enough that I can protect those most important to me from _anything_." The aqua-eyed boy clenched his fist and held it over his heart. "I swear that I will grow stronger," the boy vowed, "to protect what matters most to me. My friends and my family. I will _never_ let _anyone_ take them away from me ever again!"

{time skip}

It had been a year since Vanitas had been taken into protective custody and locked away, and Ventus was honestly worried about his twin. The older boy had grown increasingly bitter towards most of the villagers since his best friend had been taken away, and it was also steadily growing less subtle. Even with the daily meditation exercises holding his temper _mostly_ in check. The older twin didn't just glare at the other villagers now; he was curt and cold when he was forced to speak to them, and would simply refuse to speak at all whenever he could get away with it. The only villagers he was half-decent to were the few who showed sympathy for the imprisoned Darkness wielder. They were clearly still afraid of him, but they would occasionally comment that locking him up was a bit extreme. Ven honestly liked these people; they may have been afraid, but they didn't let their fear turn into hate. The problem was that these rare individuals were in the minority. Most were smug when they talked about 'the monster's' treatment. There was another minority that just didn't care, but the older twin kind of had it out for those people too. Ventus knew his brother well enough to know that Roxas was not likely to physically lash out; he wasn't that violent. However, some people were starting to complain to their parents about his attitude. His mother had been able to deflect these complaints by claiming that it was most likely because he was 'entering puberty' whatever _that_ was. They were both starting to get a lot taller recently, though. The younger twin was resolved to ask his dad what puberty was at some point.

The boy glanced over at where his brother was flopped on the couch reading and grinned slightly; on the other hand, his and Kairi's efforts to get his twin to spend more time with Namine had been paying off. They didn't even have to work at it anymore. The two blondes would go off into their own little word with little to no prompting. It was one of the few times he'd see his older brother smile these days. The other was when he was sparring with Riku. The two were nowhere near as aggressive as he and Vanitas had been, but their matches were still really intense. Roxas was clearly using them as a means of venting his pent up frustration, but the younger blonde had no idea why the silver-haired teen was so serious about it. When he'd asked the only response he'd gotten was, "I'm not willing to let it happen again." Ventus sighed as he dropped the comic book he'd been _trying_ to focus on for the past five minutes onto his chest. He wasn't sure when he'd started thinking so much, but it was getting annoying. 'I've changed too,' the twelve-year old mused, 'I think more than I talk these days. I'm almost as bad as Roxas. AGH! I'm doing it AGAIN!' Ven slapped his hands over his face and groaned pathetically drawing his twin's attention. "What's got you all worked up," his brother wondered. "I can't stop _thinking_ ," the younger twin moaned, "It's driving me nuts!" Roxas just blinked in confusion; his twin was so strange sometimes.

Sora stared at his best friend in amazement, "Uh, Riku… Where'd you get that?" "Cool, huh," Riku grinned at his younger friend as he hefted his new training blade, "It doesn't actually have an edge on it, but it's an actual metal sword. Dad says it'll help me get used to the differences in balance between wooden blades and real ones. He says that I've gotten good enough at pulling my strikes that he's okay with letting me use a metal blade in training now." "That is awesome," the brunette grinned, "I wonder when I'll get to use one…" "Maybe next year," the thirteen-year old shrugged, "You still tend to lose your grip from time to time." "Only when I'm fighting Kairi," the twelve-year old protested. The silver-haired teen smirked at his younger friend, "Only when it's Kairi, hm? Now I wonder why that is…" The younger boy blinked in confusion, "I dunno. It just happens. Why? Do you have an idea?" The young teen's smirk widened, "Maybe. Maybe not." Blue-eyes widened pathetically as the boy pleaded, "Tell me!" "Nope," his best friend shook his head. "Tell me!" "Nuh-uh." "Tell me!" "My answer's not changing, Sora." "Tell me!" "Wow, you're shameless…" "Tell me!" "Clinging to my legs isn't going to make me change my answer either." "Tell me!" "This is just sad." "Tell me!" "I should be recording this." "Tell me!" "I really should be recording this…"

It was at this point that the other four kids walked into the courtyard and they had to stop and stare at the scene before them. Sora had both his arms wrapped around Riku's knees and was staring up at him pathetically as he continued begging shamelessly; the silver-haired teen was clearly struggling not to laugh. Roxas just shook his head and sighed, "That guy has no shame." Kairi giggled, "Aw, I think it's cute." Ventus gave his red-headed female friend an odd look, "That's…more creepy than cute." Namine sighed, "You _are_ the one who taught him the 'looking pathetic' trick." "I never went _that_ far," Ven protested. "It's true," his twin nodded, "My brother does have _some_ pride." "Gee, thanks," the younger blonde deadpanned. The four continued watching for a few more moments before the older twin huffed, walked over, and pried the pleading brunette off of his older friend's legs. "Thanks," the teen grinned at the more serious blonde, "I was wondering how I was going to get him off." "No problem," the older blonde replied as he let the now limp Sora drop to the ground, "Bet you wish you had a camera, though." "Like you wouldn't believe," Riku smirked, "You don't get much better blackmail material than that." The brown-haired boy raised his head and stuck out his tongue, "Doesn't work as blackmail if I don't care who sees." The other kids gaped at their prone friend who simply grinned and laid back with his hands behind his head. They were all thinking the exact same thing, 'How…? He _really_ has no shame…'

{time skip}

Sora sighed as he lay back on his bed; it had been a year and a half since his brother had been taken away, and he was honestly getting frustrated with the villagers. He'd had to drop the 'poor sad little me' act about six months after Vanitas had been taken into custody simply because the villagers knew he wasn't a naturally sad person. Six months was honestly pushing it seeing as he'd only publicly grieved his _mother_ for only three. He'd only gotten away with it simply because it was common knowledge that the older Yagami was really the only close family he had left. At least by the end of it the villagers had started showing _some_ signs of guilt for the consequences of their bigotry. The brunette had always been well liked even by those who hated his brother simply because he was so sweet, cheerful, and fun. The realization that they'd hurt him had been like a fist to the gut. Now though…they seemed to think that because he was happy again that all was forgiven. Sora was, quite frankly, annoyed because he hadn't exactly forgiven them. The brunette didn't really hold grudges like Vanitas did. He remembered slights and hurts done against him and those he cared for, but he didn't plot revenge. The younger Yagami was simply too nice for that. Was he more cheerful now? Yes, but he also still missed his brother desperately. He still had moments where he got really sad and wished the older boy was still around. He wondered how his brother was doing. Was he sad? Was he angry? Was he hurting? The link was still silent, so he honestly had no idea. "I wish I could ask you for advice, Vani," the twelve-year old whispered, "I just don't know how I can get them to see what a great person you are… What should I do?" The room he had once shared with his older brother was as silent as it had been ever since Vanitas had been taken in response. The blue-eyed boy signed again and rolled over onto his side; he _hated_ being alone.

Roxas couldn't help but stare at his twin as he chatted politely with the grocer; he could _not_ understand how his younger brother could stand to be nice to one of those bigots. When Ventus had finished paying for the snacks they were bringing for their friends and returned the older boy asked him exactly that. Ven shrugged and smiled sadly, "I just feel sorry for them, I guess." His twin gaped in disbelief, "How?!" The younger boy shrugged again, "Cause they don't realize how much their fear is blinding them." The older twin just didn't get it; he couldn't. His own resentment to the villagers was actually blinding _him_ to the fact that his brother had a point. The villagers' fear was driven purely by a lack of understanding. They didn't know what the Darkness was, what it could do, how it worked, or anything. All they knew was that it existed, the Heartless were associated with it, and that it concealed things; that made it scary. What made the younger twin pity them even more was that several of them had seen first-hand that the Darkness was just as capable of protecting people as it was spawning and concealing Heartless. They had seen – with their own eyes – that it could be used for good, but their own fears had blinded them. That struck the younger blond as being a miserable way to live. Ventus continued as Roxas just looked at him blankly, "They are missing out on so many things because they can't stop being afraid. It's sad." His older brother just shook his head, "You're way too nice sometimes." "And _you're_ way too cynical and moody," Ven countered, "You need to lighten up." The older blonde rolled his eyes, "I'm not that bad." The twins bickered good-naturedly over whether the older of them needed to lighten up a bit all the way to the Shimomuras. They may not always agree, but that was normal for siblings; even twins. It didn't mean they cared about each other any less.

Riku looked over at his sparring partner while they waited for the others to finish their matches, "What're you thinking about?" Roxas sighed, "I miss sparring with Vanitas." The silver-haired teen clapped his hand on the blonde's shoulder, "I hear that man. This is kind of going to sound weird but it's just not the same if I'm not nursing some kind of injury. He really pushed me to my limit." "Oh and I don't," the older twin mock pouted, "Gee, thanks." "You're good," the older teen grinned, "Don't get me wrong. You're better than most of the rest of our group." "I'm sensing there's a 'but' coming," blue eyes rolled sarcastically. "…But," the aqua-eyed teen smirked, "You've still got nothing on me." "Oh yeah," the increasingly darker twin smirked, "Then how come we're still tied in wins vs. losses?" "Smart ass," the other thirteen-year old snorted. The two teens grinned at each other and laughed lightly before the younger of them continued, "I still miss Vanitas, though." "Yeah, me too," the Darkness wielder sighed. They stood in silence for a few moments as they watched Sora and Kairi spar. Finally Riku spoke up again, "Is it just me, or are those two flirting while they fight?" Roxas watched closely before he shrugged, "I'm honestly not sure if it's flirting or just banter. Why do you think it's flirting?" "Cause Sora's sword keeps slipping," the silver-haired teen replied, "I swear he gets a major case of sweaty palms every time he sees her these days." The blonde teen blinked in surprise and looked at his older friend, "Sora has a thing for Kairi?" "I think so," the other teen replied, "They've always been really close since the day they met. Even he and I aren't that close. We've always been more like brothers, but with her… It's always seemed closer than that."

The older of the Harris twins hummed thoughtfully, "I guess I could see it with that context. Maybe they are flirting a bit." "More like a lot," the aqua-eyed teen grumbled, "What drives me nuts is how _neither_ of them seems to be picking up on it. A part of me just wants to lock them into a room together until they both realize they like each other." "Since when are you a matchmaker," Roxas teased. "I'm not," Riku countered, "But this is my best friend and unofficial little sister we're talking about. With all the crap that Sora's had to deal with over the years…if she makes him happy… Is it so wrong that I want that for them?" The blue-eyed teen smiled softly at that, "Heh, I guess not. Well, if you ever do decide to get involved count me in, too." The silver haired teen smirked slightly, "There's also the fact that I want to snap a picture of them in snuggle-mode and send the print with my dad to give to Vanitas. And have 'bet you never saw _this_ coming' written on the back. He'd get a kick out of it." The blonde teen laughed, "Or he'd tell your dad to grab a camera, have the man snap a picture of him flipping you off, send the print back with your dad, and have 'fuck you , you ass,' written on the back." The aqua-eyed Darkness wielder shook his head and chuckled, "Yeah that sounds like him. Light, I miss him…" "You notice how our conversations keep coming back to that," Roxas pointed out, "You know, that we both miss our mutual best friend?" "Life was more interesting with him around," Riku admitted, "These days everything just seems so…bland…" "Yeah," the older twin sighed before he gave a short laugh, "Man, we're pathetic. Bonding over how much we miss the guy." "We bond over other things," the silver-haired teen countered. "Yeah, I guess we do," the blonde replied with a grin, "I'm glad you're my friend, Riku." "Right back at you, Roxas," the older teen grinned back. They went back to watching their friends spar. It was good to have friends.

{time skip}

Roxas grinned and waved as he ran over to his female friend, "Namine!" The blonde apprentice's eyes lit up as she waved back, "Roxas, hi!" It had been two years since Vanitas had been locked away, and his friends still missed him. However, two of them had found a nice distraction. The older of the Harris twins and Namine had been spending more and more time together until the young teen finally asked the girl if she'd like to spend the day with just him. The other blonde had felt the need to clarify that it wasn't a date though. He'd actually started stammering a bit over it; going on about how it wasn't that he didn't think she was pretty because she was. Or that he didn't _want_ to maybe date her someday it's just he wasn't ready to yet. Basically he was really awkward and adorable. The healer's apprentice had only laughed and said she looked forward to spending time with him as a friend. The fact was that the older twin had a bit of a crush on the girl, but wasn't sure how to act on it. She was his friend first, and he didn't want to ask her out and then have it be a disaster. That would ruin their friendship. What he didn't realize was that the demure blonde liked him back, and was patiently waiting for him to work that out. Roxas was ignorant to all of this at the moment, though, because he was just so excited. "So I was thinking we could maybe go for a walk to Crystal Beach and see if we can find any good ones," he suggested, "That sound good to you?" Namine smiled back, "Sure! I could use them to decorate the lamps in my room. I'm starting to get tired of all that white." "Baba does have a lot of white in her house," the blonde twin agreed, "I'm kind of surprised it took you this long to tire of it, though." "I like white," the thirteen-year old girl shrugged, "It's one of my favorite colors. I never thought you could have too much of it, but my master's house has finally proven me wrong. Some nice agate and quartz crystals are just what I need to bring it back down to manageable levels."

The two thirteen year olds chatted idly as they walked for Crystal Beach; it was so named because of the large number of polished agate, jasper, and quartz crystals that could be found on its rocky shore. It was slightly further to the east from Play Cove, so it wasn't all that far away. It only took them about an hour to walk there. It was a bright sunny day, and the tide was out so the beach was broader than normal. Roxas had brought a canvas bag along with him that they could use to carry their finds. The two teens walked slowly up and down the beach; occasionally they would pause to grab a crystal they liked and stick it in the back. Mostly, though, they talked. Namine was curious about what it was like to have an actual family you were related to; she had been orphaned back when she was really little, and so had no memory of her birth family. All she'd ever known was living at the orphanage in Yume village and life as Baba's apprentice. The blonde twin was more than willing to accommodate and was telling her all sorts of stories about life with his family as they walked. He told her about his mother's addiction to collecting glass unicorns. "I really don't know why she likes them so much," he admitted, "But our apartment back in Twilight Town was _covered_ in them. She's had to slow down a lot since we moved here. They don't ship very well, and no place around here sells them." He talked about how his dad once got kicked out a book store for getting into an argument with another customer as to what, exactly, the criteria for good literature were. The other man's criteria were much lower than his father's so the argument got a bit ugly. "Dad was sulking for weeks," Roxas laughed. He also talked about growing up with Ventus. "It's interesting having a twin brother," he confessed thoughtfully, "We're close enough to the same wavelength that we can finish each other's sentences seamlessly, and sometimes we even say the exact same thing at the exact same time. Sometimes we aren't even in the same room when we do it. Yet in other ways we are so different. Even though he's quieted down a lot recently, he is still more outgoing than I am. Ven's way more forgiving too."

They were on the beach for about three hours before the bag started getting really heavy. "I think that's enough," Namine stated as she watched her friend grunt as he lifted the bag over his shoulder, "Maybe we should head back." "Yeah," he groaned slightly as he tried to shift the bag into a comfortable position, "This thing is getting pretty heavy. We can stop by my house and sort through them." The blonde apprentice agreed, and they headed back. They spent another two hours at his house sorting through the crystals they'd collected. The girl had collected seven lace agates, three moss agates, one tiger's eye agate, two fire agates, eight pink quartz crystals, three amethysts, and a geode she planned to crack open once she got home. Roxas ended up with a large, clear piece of smoky quartz, three banded agates, two pieces of bloodstone, and several miscellaneous varieties of chalcedony. All in all, they'd made a pretty good haul. "So which ones are you planning on decorating your lamps with," the blonde teen asked. Namine hummed thoughtfully as she studied her finds before separating the pink quartz and amethyst from the others, "I think I'll use these to decorate the bases. I think I'll hang the lace and fire agates from the shades. I'll need to ask for Kairi's help with that." "Sounds nice enough I guess," the young teen mused, "What will you do with the other stones?" "The geodes I'm gonna crack and just display on my shelves," the blonde girl replied, "The others I'm just gonna stick in a bowl on my dresser. What about you? What are you going to do with your stones?" Roxas shrugged, "No idea." He thought for a bit before flushing slightly, "Um… Would you like some of them? I mean, it's not like I have any ideas of what to do with the things." The young healer nodded, "Some of them, sure. You could always display the smoky quartz and bloodstones, but I'll take the rest." They divided the rest of the stones and spent the rest of the afternoon talking some more. They really did get along well.

Sora and Kairi shared a look and nodded before they jointly tackled Riku. Their older silver-haired friend was spending way too much time training, in their opinion, and not enough time just having fun. The older teen yelped as they slammed into him and knocked him to the ground, "What the…?!" "You're no fun anymore," the brunette accused from his perch on his best friend's chest, "All you do is train or spar with Roxas these days!" "Yeah," the red-head pitched in from her perch on his stomach, "What happened to the awesome guy who'd play video games and just lie around watching the clouds with us?" "He decided he needed to grow up," the fourteen-year old wheezed – it was hard to breathe with two thirteen-year olds sitting on your lungs and diaphragm after all – before he continued, "Can't breathe! Get off!" The two younger teens shrugged and got off; they didn't want to suffocate him. They only wanted him to lighten up. "Seriously, though, Riku," the blue-eyed boy pressed, "What's the deal? You've really gotten hung up on this training thing these past few months. You weren't anywhere near as bad last fall." The older boy sat up and sighed, "I don't know… I just…have been feeling kind of frustrated lately. Training and everything helps me keep my mind off of it." "Why," Kairi wondered, "What's been so frustrating?" Riku sighed, "It's…a lot of things… Dad still won't tell me how Vanitas is doing at the Watch House. I still don't feel like I'm getting stronger fast enough. The villagers are still pricks. And so on." "Wait, Uncle Touya won't tell you either," Sora frowned, "What the heck is up with that?" "Hell if I know," the silver-haired teen snorted, "Every time I ask he just gives me this apologetic look and says he's been forbidden to speak of it. He's the Captain of the friggin' Watch! Who could forbid him to tell my about how one of my best friends is doing?!" Kairi cringed a bit before she suggested, "Maybe that particular best friend?" "That's what I'm afraid of," the Darkness wielder groaned.

Honestly, Riku was getting kind of worried. Why would Vanitas forbid his father from giving him a heads up on how he was coping? Did that mean something was wrong? Was his younger best friend right about the older Darkness wielder wanting his friends to forget about him? The fourteen-year old hoped not because that just wasn't happening. The brunette frowned uneasily, "I'm worried about him. Vanitas has never been all that stable, and he's been all on his own for two years. What if his mental state has gotten even worse?" The three friends winced at that thought. "Darkness forbid," the red-haired girl shook her head, "He needs to last until we can find some way to get him out of there. My parents are finally starting to consider that they might have been wrong about him all of these years. I just need a bit more time to get them on his side…" "You're still thinking your dad has enough influence to get the villagers to change their attitudes," Riku asked skeptically. "More like I'm hoping really," the red head admitted, "I'm not sure what else to try." The aqua-eyed teen shrugged, "My plan is to join the Royal Guard, rise as high in the ranks as I can, and then come back here to bust him out with a full squad as back up. Mr. Harris says things are different in the Core. Maybe if we rescue him and spirit him off to the East he can have a life there." "That…sounds like a really good idea," Sora admitted, "Count me in." "Me too," Kairi added with a grin, "I'll bet if we asked Roxas, Namine, and Ven would join too. Then we could all be together again!" She pulled out her wayfinder and held it over her head as she proclaimed, "Just you wait, Vanitas! We'll get you out of there. We have an unbreakable connection of friendship, remember?" Her two male friends looked at each other, smirked, pulled out their wayfinders, and raised them up alongside hers. No matter what it took, they _would_ get Vanitas back!

 **A/N:** And that's all I've got for this chapter. I think that was a nice note to end on, don't you? I'm just glad it's over. Apparently, I have a _really_ hard time writing chapters that Vanitas isn't in. He's just so easy for me to write! The others are hard! _Really_ hard! Now for a few extra notes; regarding the crystal collecting: the only reason I didn't specify which varieties of chalcedony Roxas had collected is simply that there are far too many to choose from. Seriously, the chalcedony group is freaking _massive_. Actually any sub-categories of the silicate group are massive. It's the most common mineral in the Earth's crust! It's the thickest section in all of my rock books. Yes, I have rock books. I like geology. I like all of the sciences really. SCIENCE! Now regarding my choice of pairings: if you haven't guessed, so far they consist solely of Sora/Kairi and Roxas/ Namine; neither of these are the main pairing for this story. This is largely Vanitas centric, so he's the one who's pairing matters. Not saying what it is yet. You'll find out next book. Warning: it's kind of a crack paring that I can't help but find adorable. It's also the first non-canon pairing that I've ever really liked… I am not kidding. All of the other pairings I like are either established in canon or are at least very strongly hinted at. I don't pair Riku with anyone because, as far as I'm concerned, nobody in KH canon is good enough for him. Yes, I like him that much. I don't have a preferred pairing for Ventus yet because I still don't know his character all that well. Give me time to get to Birth by Sleep and finish it. It'll be a while. I still have both sides of Re: Chain of Memories and KH2 to finish first as of writing this. If the flow of this chapter seemed a bit jarring there is a reason for that. Each of the perspective shifts is basically a mini-plot within the overall plot of the chapter. In short, it's a clip chapter. Also before anyone gets all huffy about Ven's comment about 'girls liking matchmaking' I want you to remember he is an eleven year old boy. They make generalizations like that. For all he knows, all girls _do_ like matchmaking. He doesn't know any better and I'm trying to give an accurate portrayal of a male child of that age. I think I did adequately. Next time we get to see how Vanitas is doing. I'm not doing a bunch of time-skips for his chapter. It is set at the same time as the final time-skip for this chapter; in short, two years after he was locked up…unless I change my mind again. Either way, he's…going to be a bit different. You'll see what I mean next time. Till then everyone!


	21. Solitude

**A/N:** YAY! I GET TO WRITE VANITAS AGAIN! I missed him, and it was only a single chapter break. I think I may be getting a bit obsessed. Also, I changed my mind about how long he's been in protective custody. It's going to have been three years now instead of two. I think I'm going to stick in the explanation for his attacks this chapter. I don't want to wait until book two and they are really kind of plot relevant. Who among you is familiar with the concept of a ticking clock scenario? It's kind of like that. I wasn't kidding when I said I wasn't giving the guy a break. Then again…it might fit better later. Not to mention it adds a bit of suspense… We'll see. There will probably be a few flashbacks. Or not. It depends on how Vanitas wants to be written. So far when I just let him do what he wants I get great results that make the plot even better than I had originally envisioned. Why mess with a good thing? If it doesn't fit in this chapter, then I can save it for later! I've already managed to fit in one of the things he gave me that didn't fit where it initially appeared, and I might use the second one in this chapter. I love writing this guy! I really do! I'd try and hug him only I think I'd get stabbed…so, yeah, I'm going to respect his personal space. No unwanted hugging from me. Also fictional character; I kind of can't hug him anyways. BUT IF I COULD….I wouldn't…because I don't want to be stabbed with Void Gear. I just realized how crazy that all sounds reading it back…but I'm not deleting it. This is how I actually think, people. Be afraid. Now let's begin.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 20: Solitude

Officer Hikaru Himura was grinning madly as she looked at the duty board; it was Thursday, and that meant it was her day to handle the inmates' meals. She was elated. It wasn't that she liked going into the basement, or particularly enjoyed getting heckled by the most recent batch of drunkards and petty thieves. No, there was a _particular_ inmate that she was looking forward to seeing. He wasn't exactly friendly; every other Thursday she'd been on meal duty he'd just walked over, grabbed his tray, muttered his thanks, and walked back to his bunk. The other guards on meal duty had reported the same behavior. The young man had the same reaction regardless of gender or age. However, Officer Himura didn't care about any of that. She just wanted to enjoy the eye-candy. Yes, he was a good fifteen years younger than she was. It did _not_ change the fact that he was freaking gorgeous. Besides, as far as she was concerned there was nothing wrong with it so long as she only looked and didn't touch; being appreciative was not a crime. She headed for the cooler at the back of the break room where the inmates' meals were kept. The Night Watch was responsible for keeping it stocked. The giddy thirty-year old grabbed the cart sitting next to the cooler, opened the doors, and started moving trays of food onto the cart. She only needed seven simply because that was how many inmates they had at the moment. Officer Hikaru wheeled the cart over to the microwave and placed the first of the trays into the machine to be re-heated. The ginger-haired officer flicked her braid over her shoulder as she waited on the microwave to do its job and briefly wondered how many jealous looks she was going to get once those of her co-workers who shared her…fascination…realized that she was going to get to see him first today. She had bet one of her gay co-workers that she would get more than he did when it was _his_ turn on the roster. The man had put up a bottle of white wine from his family's vineyard as his wager and she _loved_ white wine. She was _winning_ that bet!

Finally, she finished reheating all of the trays, and started making her way for the stair case with the cart in tow. The jealous looks started the very instant she walked out of the break room and she immediately started marking her mental tally sheet; she had ten right off the bat. Not a bad start. The stairs gave her no trouble for the simple reason that the cart had an embedded Float spell that kicked in the second even one of its wheels left the ground. She continued down the hall for the basement stairs gaining another slew of looks from the officers heading between reception and the records room. By the time she reached the basement cells her mental tally was at eighteen. That was all of the women and most of the gay officers; she was _so_ winning that bet. Officer Himura made her rounds while enduring the jeers and harassment of the six new arrivals. As usual, none of them did anything worse than making cat-calls and lewd remarks. Her personal theory was that the Captain's reputation for enforcing that all of his subordinates undergo blade-training was well known among the locals. The current batch of inmates' wariness of the sword she wore openly was a pretty big hint. Finally, she made her way to the last cell; this was the part she had been looking forward to all morning. "Good morning, Vanitas," the woman greeted as she stopped before his cell door. She had to fight down a blush as she realized the fifteen-year old had decided to sleep only in his boxers.

Vanitas was understandably annoyed when he glanced at the female officer standing outside of his door and realized she was gaping; he _hated_ being stared at. 'Why didn't Touya fucking _warn_ me that it was going to be one of his lady officers bringing breakfast today,' he complained to himself, 'He _knows_ those women have problems! Quit fucking staring!' The golden-eyed teen grumbled, sat up, and ran his hand through his sleep-mussed hair. He figured he may as well get this over with as fast as possible so that the thirty-year old would go away. The fifteen-year old stood up, walked over to the door, folded his arms across his chest, and stared pointedly at the tray of food the woman was holding. Officer Himura snapped herself out of her daze and slid the tray through the gap at the bottom of the barred door; the teen knelt to pick up the tray and glanced at the flustered woman. "Thanks," he muttered tonelessly before he turned and walked away while praying desperately that she would just _leave_ already. Her stare was seriously starting to creep him out. The lady officer shook herself, turned, and walked away without another word; she'd gotten a _lot_ more of a dose of eye-candy than she'd been expecting, but she was _not_ complaining.

Vanitas groaned and rolled his eyes as his enhanced hearing picked up a faint, giddy giggle; he _hated_ his fanclub. He sat down heavily on his bunk and eyed his breakfast skeptically; some of the food didn't exactly look edible. "Are these supposed to be potatoes," he wondered as he poked the waxy white mush on one side of the tray before he shrugged and started eating; he'd stopped being picky two years ago. Even food of questionable edibility was still better than starving. The black-haired teen flinched slightly as the cuffs around his wrists shifted. They'd grown increasingly uncomfortable as he'd aged. The tingling sensation had gradually started to actually become painful over the years. Currently it felt as though the skin in contact with the metal was being burned with a white-hot iron. Once Touya had discovered the problem existed he'd tried to remedy it by switching the original pair out for one with a longer chain, and a milder enchantment. It hadn't worked; they still burned although the teen _did_ appreciate the greater range of motion. There were two upsides to the situation as the fifteen year old saw it. The first was that because the increase in severity was so gradual the affected areas had had plenty of time to learn to tolerate the pain. Now he only really registered it if the cuffs moved to come in contact with a new area of skin, or if they'd been removed for his weekly practice sessions and were being put back on. The other was that, regardless of the effect the cuffs were having, it left no marks. There was no actual damage being inflicted to cause the pain. Vanitas finished his meal and walked over to slide the tray back under the door. He then stretched and headed over to his dresser to grab some clothes. He wasn't going to risk a repeat of that morning's awkwardness when lunch came.

Vanitas' life in the Watch House had been fairly dull for the past three years. The biggest change was the growing fanclub he'd started to collect after he turned fourteen. That was around the time that his body experienced a major growth spurt, and his voice dropped from its childlike tones to a smooth, low tenor. These physical changes combined with his already striking facial features and lean, muscular build all added up to one very attractive teenager. As one female officer once complained, "It's not fair! It's like nature designed every facet of his being to hit my libido like a sledgehammer!" The sudden jump in popularity with the female and gay officers hadn't really changed much aside from giving him something else to be annoyed by. He resented the fact that the only reason the fanclub was even interested in him was because of his appearance. They didn't even _know_ him! It drove him up a wall. Still, even this new annoyance was a welcome deviation from the tedium his life had become. The ebony-haired teen spent most of his time locked in his cell trying to keep himself occupied.

The Captain and youth were in in agreement that being locked up was no reason for his education to stop; the silver-haired man had assigned Officer Fujita to be the teen's tutor, and the man excelled at the role. It also helped that Kazuo was one of the members of the force who had always been sympathetic to the fifteen-year old. They had lessons together on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays after training. Touya _had_ succeeded in getting his subordinates to agree to allow Vanitas to practice his control over the Darkness. The problem was that they were still a bit scared of his powers and so limited those training sessions to once a week; specifically Friday. In the end, there really wasn't all that much he could do to entertain himself. He really had only four major means of passing the time: reading, his lessons with Officer Fujita, meditating, and exercising. He mostly meditated in the morning after he ate breakfast, and again before he went to bed. His godfather was considerate enough to set up a system where he could exchange the books he was bored of for new ones, so he at least always had something interesting to read. Yet, when he wasn't reading or engaged in a tutoring session, the main activity the teen was engaged in was working out.

Vanitas had a fairly set exercise routine. First, he would stretch to be sure he was all loosened up. Next, he'd move on to squats and keep doing them until he got bored and switched to squat thrusts. After that, he'd start doing push-ups. He'd start out normally before he'd move to doing them one-handed; the chain of his cuffs was long enough to allow him to fold his free arm behind his back, and would regularly alternate hands. Once he got bored of that he'd move on to a new form of push-up he'd made up. First, he'd do a hand stand, then shift his balance so that all of his weight was on one hand, bring his free hand up behind his back, and finally he'd start doing one-handed push-ups while _still_ holding the hand-stand; he would do one arm for a while and then switch once he felt he'd worked that arm enough. It took a lot of concentration at first, but now it was his favorite part of the work out. After he finished with the handstand push-ups he'd move on to sit ups until he got bored with those, too. It took him a while because he did three variants: arms crossed across the chest, arms crossed behind the head, and the variant of arms crossed behind the head where the object is to alternate touching each elbow to the opposite knee. The next part of his routine consisted of the teen practicing his flips; he'd do standing back-flips, standing front-flips, off-the-wall flips, and any other sort of flip you could think of. He had to be careful with this part as he'd banged his head on the ceiling more than once when he jumped too high. Occasionally he'd mix it up by moving into a series of martial arts katas instead. After that he'd finish up by doing more stretches to cool back down; all told the full routine took about three hours to finish. He'd do about three routines a day with breaks in between where he was either reading or eating. The end result, of course, was that his body was pretty much a sculpted work of art which was part of why the female, and gay, officers liked looking at him so much.

The black-haired teen finished getting dressed and headed over to the sink to brush his teeth same as every other day. He tried to ignore his reflection in the mirror; he didn't like being reminded of how pale he was now. His skin tone had always been on the pallid side, but ever since he'd been locked away his skin had just been getting lighter and lighter. The fact was that the thin shaft of sunlight coming in from the cell's sole window was not enough to maintain his former complexion. The fifteen-year old's skin was so pale now that it looked almost white; he thought it made him look like a ghost. Vanitas ran his fingers through his hair a few times to work out the few snarls that had formed over-night before he shook his head firmly to get it to settle back into its normal style of messy spikes. It never varied much from the same basic form even when wet. All it did was droop a bit. He always figured it saved him a fortune on styling products; besides, he liked the way it looked. The golden-eyed teen splashed some water on his face and dried it off with the towel hanging next to the sink before he headed for the middle of the room to start his morning meditation session. The one thing he _didn't_ hate Akira for was that his genes made it so that he never had to worry about shaving; the Yagami line was notorious for having very little body hair and zero facial hair. It was a genetic quirk that made his morning routine _so_ much simpler.

The Darkness wielder settled himself down in the position he preferred – legs folded and hands resting lightly on his thighs – before he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Gradually he focused his attention inwards to the coiled, seething mess of emotions swirling deep within and took stock. His worry for how his friends and brother were doing was still there, as was his frustration with being locked up, his hatred for Akira, the lingering guilt and self-loathing from the Yagami Tragedy which had gotten a nice boost from the guilt and self-loathing he felt for making his brother cry when he left, his regret for the pain he'd caused his loved ones, his fear of being forgotten, his irritation with the officers who _would not stop staring_ , his uneasiness about why his cuffs hurt when they weren't _supposed_ to, his growing boredom from the life he now led, his longing for freedom, the satisfaction he got from learning something new, his confidence in his sense of control, his love for those closest to his Heart was still burning brightly, his grief over the fact that he would likely never see them again, his determination to not let his current situation break him still held firm, his weariness of constantly being in pain was still there, and there too was his growing fear regarding the final feeling in his Heart: the emptiness. It had grown rapidly in the past three years. He had no idea where it was coming from or what was feeding it; all he knew was that it was gradually spreading. He was terrified by what it could potentially mean. He had no idea of just how justified this fear was.

Vanitas spent an hour in focused meditation before he was satisfied that everything was stable; well, as stable as it ever got. The fifteen-year old was well aware of how precarious his mental state was. It was why he meditated twice a day, every day, every year; it helped him to maintain his control. The side effect was that he didn't emote much these days. It wasn't that he didn't feel things because he did, but he didn't show what he was feeling very often. Both his face and his voice were generally emotionless…except for when he was irritated. He didn't bother masking _that_ sequence of emotions. The dark-haired teen opened his eyes and debated for a few seconds as to whether he had time to run through his normal exercise routine before Touya stopped by. His godfather was concerned that he wasn't getting enough socialization and made a point of visiting three times a week. Today would be his second visit for this week, and the teen wasn't exactly looking forward to it. One would think it was because he was holding a grudge for the man thinking it was necessary for the teen to be locked away, but this was not the case. The Darkness wielder didn't hold his current situation against the Watch Captain at all. He wasn't exactly happy about it – and it honestly frustrated the hell out of him sometimes – but he just couldn't blame the man when it was all too obvious that he _still_ felt horribly guilty. That was why it was so hard to endure his visits; Vanitas _hated_ seeing the guilt lingering in his eyes and hearing it in his voice. It made the teen feel guilty as well, and he was honestly quite sick and tired of that particular emotion. He'd been dealing with it in some form or another for the past seven years, and he just wanted a break already.

Touya also had an annoying habit of asking him about his attacks. A month after the teen had originally been taken into custody, the man had been present for one of the painful episodes and it had frightened him. The golden-eyed youth had made the man promise never to tell _anyone_ about the attacks; he could _not_ risk Sora and the others finding out. The Watch Captain had reluctantly promised, but then started asking questions the young Darkness wielder just didn't want to answer. The silver-haired man wanted to know what caused the attacks, if he'd ever gone to see Baba about them, how long he'd been dealing with them, if they were normally that painful, and so on. Most of the questions the teen honestly didn't know the answer to and so _couldn't_ give any reply other than 'I don't know'. The remainder he either didn't feel comfortable answering, or just didn't want to deal with the reaction to his reply. Vanitas sighed as he realized there was no way he'd finish before his godfather arrived, and decided he'd just read instead.

An hour passed and Captain Shimomura still hadn't made an appearance. 'Touya's late,' the teen mused as he set his book down, 'that's not like him. Maybe something came up. I might be able to get some of my routine done after all.' Vanitas stretched and scratched the back of his neck. He was feeling restless, so he figured he may as well start his normal work-out and if Touya showed up…well, he could always talk while exercising. The dark-haired teen was pretty good at multi-tasking. He got up and took up his position in the middle of the room. He started his routine and steadily began working his way through the sequence. He was just getting into the handstand for his modified push-ups when he was suddenly startled by a loud clang from the bars of his cell door. The golden-eyed teen raised his head and frowned as he recognized the man glaring at him through the bars. Officer Hiroto Musashi was one of the worst of the bigots remaining on the force; most of the rest had retired or quit rather than continue to share space with the youth they hated. Officer Musashi was stubborn, though. He was also the worst type of law-enforcement official; the kind who used his position to feed his own sense of self-importance. Frankly, the teen was amazed he hadn't been fired yet. "What do you want," the black-haired teen grunted as he casually balanced himself on one hand, "I thought you were banned from coming anywhere near me after last time." The man's biggest problem was he absolutely _hated_ not being the center of attention. The fact that the Watch House's long term resident had gained a _fan club_ the year before had been driven the dirty blonde haired officer mad with jealously. He'd been on the lunch roster one day and had taken the opportunity to try to strangle the target of his wrath. Vanitas had successfully fended him off, but the man had only stopped trying to attack him after the officer on patrol realized what was going on and subdued his fellow officer. The teen had later learned that Captain Shimomura had banned Officer Musashi from ever going down into the basement again and took him off of all the relevant rotational rosters; he didn't want to give the hateful man an excuse.

"Well," the golden-eyed teen continued in a bored tone, "I don't know what you want, and to be honest I don't care. We both know you aren't supposed to be down here. I suggest you leave before you get caught and fired." The officer smirked coldly as he finally replied, "Oh, but I _won't_ get caught. Most of the squad got called out to deal with a _nasty_ domestic dispute call on one of the farms. There's only me, that wimp Fujita, and that airhead Himura left in the Watch House and I made sure those two will be staying out of my way." A note in the man's tone set off warning bells in the Darkness wielder's mind; he flipped back up to his feet and fixed the man with a dangerous glare. "What. Did. You. Do," he hissed threateningly; he _liked_ Kazuo, and – while he might not _like_ Officer Himura – he did _not_ like the idea of her being hurt. "Handcuffed them together in the men's restroom," Officer Musashi responded calmly. Vanitas relaxed slightly once he realized the two other officers were most likely still safe, but didn't drop his glare. That still left the question of what the man outside his cell wanted, and he was starting to get a bad feeling. "So," the teen stated in a cool monotone, "that still leaves the question of what you want." "Isn't it obvious," the man's face broke out into a twisted grin as he drew his sword, "I want you dead!" 'Not again,' the Darkness wielding teen moaned internally, 'Can't I at least go _five_ years between people trying to kill me? Just five! That's all I ask!'

Touya arrived in the basement at a run an hour later only to find the rogue officer unconscious from blood-loss and pinned to the wall opposite Vanitas' cell by his own sword through his shoulder. "Vanitas," the man called worriedly, "Are you alright?!" "What," the annoyed teen hissed from where he leaned casually against the back wall of his cell, "were you _thinking_ leaving him alone with only two other officers to keep an eye on him?!" "I know. I know. That was stupid," the silver-haired man ran his hand down his face, "You aren't hurt are you?" "He never had the chance to land a hit. I blocked his first strike with the chain of my cuffs and used it to trap his blade," the Darkness wielder replied in a bored tone, "Then I twisted it out of his hands. When he tried to go for my throat I kicked him against the far wall and threw his sword at him. Drove clean through and was embedded so far in that he couldn't get enough leverage to pull it out. He spent most of the time until he passed out trying to insult me. It was pathetic." The Captain sighed in relief before he scowled at the unconscious officer, "Himura was talking so fast while she was telling me what happened that it was pretty hard to make out, but I got the gist of it. He ambushed Himura while she was working reception and knocked her out before he went after Fujita while he was doing paperwork. He slammed the poor man's head into his desk multiple times, and he still hasn't woken up. I've already sent someone over to fetch Baba to check on him…" The golden-eyed teen's face went deadly calm, "…What."

Captain Shimomura paled slightly as the runes on the cuffs blazed in response to the sudden spike of fury-fed Darkness and swiftly continued, "He should be fine. Himura has some rudimentary skill with white magic, so she healed the worst of the damage. I just want to have a professional check up on him and make sure we didn't miss anything." The expression of deadly intent on his godson's face faded as Vanitas sighed in irritation, "I _knew_ I should have just killed him…but I figured you'd rather deal with him yourself. Regretting that choice." "Don't," Touya shook his head firmly, "It was the right one. Now if you'll excuse me I should probably get this guy off the wall, into a cell, and bind his shoulder before he bleeds out. Baba's going to have a field day with this…" He got to work as the dark-haired teen watched; the fifteen-year old was somewhat entertained by seeing his godfather strain to pull the sword out of the wall. He was privately hoping this little exchange counted as their conversation for the day, but doubted it. Still, it was an amusing diversion from the tedium.

Vanitas had lucked out, so far; Touya had gotten so involved with cleaning up _ex_ -officer Musashi's mess that he didn't have time to come back down to chat. The teen had managed to finish his routine and was back to reading again. It was an interesting book entitled 'Warriors of Legend'; it was about the known history of the legendary Keyblade Masters. The dark-haired teen had been fascinated by Keyblades and all to do with them ever since he stumbled across the term in one of his textbooks. Something about them just resonated with him. It just seemed familiar somehow. He was already half-way through the book and he'd only been reading for maybe two hours; it was a three-hundred page book. He was _really_ interested. The book was mostly speculation about what it meant to be a Keyblade Master and made a big deal about how they were supposed to be scholars as well as warriors. The author _did_ know that there were never more than a hundred active at a time, and that their affinities were pretty evenly scattered between being Light or Dark with a few rare Balanced Masters. He was intrigued to learn that there was such a thing as a Dark Keyblade Master; most of the legends of Lux only spoke of Light Keyblade Masters. He'd never known there were other varieties.

The book stated that there had been Masters since before the world was reunited. It speculated about what their duties had been back then. 'They were probably driving themselves nuts trying to figure out how to put everything back the way it was,' the teen commented internally as he turned the page, 'or just maintaining the status quo.' The author apparently believed that they'd spent most of their time fighting Heartless. He'd apparently found some old texts that hinted that the Dark monsters used to be a much bigger problem. The black-haired teen conceded that they probably _did_ spend a lot of time fighting back then, but was still convinced that he'd had the right idea. If Keyblade Masters were as impressive fighters as the book made it sound they probably would have had more than enough free time between sessions of Heartless exterminating to entertain other concerns. The book also speculated about what qualities were needed to wield a Keyblade in the first place. Vanitas was pretty sure the author had no idea what the qualities actually were. The things he listed as being important ranged from being 'true-Hearted' to 'having good hygiene'; it rambled all over the place. Still it was an engaging read. He'd have to ask Touya to see if he could find any more books by this author about Keyblades. Even if he got some stuff wrong the way it was presented was just so amusing. The golden-eyed teen was pretty sure that, whoever Seth Hawthorne was, he was the only scholar to mix serious theoretical and historical discussion with light-hearted whimsy. He normally didn't read for more than two hours at a time, but today he broke his routine a little. He wanted to finish 'Warriors of Legend' before he moved on to his next round of exercise; it took him another two hours to do it.

Vanitas was in the middle his second variant of sit ups when he noticed a familiar pain growing in his chest. "Oh fuck," he moaned as he flopped onto his back, "and today was going so well…" The dark-haired teen braced himself, but was still left breathless when the attack hit. Ever since he was taken into custody their intensity had steadily worsened all across the board. The attacks were longer now; originally they seldom lasted longer than five minutes, but now he considered himself lucky if they only lasted fifteen. The pain had gotten worse and he could not prevent his body from writhing under the onslaught. By the time it peaked it was so bad that he'd end up blacking out as his mind shut down from the agony. He'd only regain consciousness once it had diminished back down to half intensity. The tremors were so bad that, in the few moments of lucid thought he had before the agony peaked, he wondered if he should be calling them convulsions instead. The worst part was the aftermath; he was usually so exhausted by the episode that it was a struggle to even breathe. The empty feeling in his chest also grew more sharply than normal after each incident. After three years he was used to the change, but he still hated the attacks with a passion. He'd have hated them less and feared them more if he knew what they truly signified. The ebony-haired teen did not, though. Finally, after thirteen minutes of sheer agony, the attack ended; he was barely conscious as he gasped weakly for air. 'I am so,' he thought hazily as his consciousness started to fade, ' _sick_ of this…' His head lolled limply to the side as he passed out with a faint sigh. He wouldn't regain consciousness for another hour…and he'd have a worried godfather to deal with when he did.

Touya glared down at his stubborn godson as the fifteen-year old matched him glare-for glare from where he was lying on the floor. "I keep telling you _I'm fine_ ," Vanitas protested in a dull tone, "I don't need a healer!" "You were sprawled out unconscious on the floor and barely breathing when I came in" the Captain countered, "I'm pretty sure that is the very opposite of fine." "It was just another stupid attack," the teen huffed, "I'm always in that condition after they're over these days. It always passes, too." "Vanitas these attacks of yours are clearly dangerous," the silver-haired man protested, "At least let Baba check up on you!" "No," the golden-eyed teen hissed. "Why not," the Watch Captain ground out in frustration. "Because I don't want anyone else to find out about them," the black-haired teen replied tonelessly after a pause, "Besides you promised you wouldn't let anyone else find out, remember? If Baba comes in she'll learn the attacks exist and you will have broken your word." Captain Shimomura ran his hand through his hair in exasperation, "I'm starting to doubt keeping my word matters when I see you suffering like this." Gold eyes narrowed menacingly as the teen glowered at his godfather, "This…is not suffering. You swore by the _Darkness_ that my attacks would remain a secret. You break that vow and you _will_ know suffering when Unmei is over-run by the Heartless." "…Come again," Touya gaped in horror.

"The Dark shields," Vanitas stated coldly, "and conceals. Vows made to the Darkness in relation to secrets call on that power to keep the secret hidden and ward it against discovery. Breaking the vow sends ripples through the Darkness which call the Heartless to where the promise was broken. The Heartless are really stupid, though. They don't just go after whoever broke the vow. They go after every Heart in the vicinity. It isn't any action of the Darkness which causes this reaction, though. It doesn't care one way or the other if people keep their words. It can't. It has no mind. Yet it is one of the two primary forces that Balance our world. You didn't think there _wouldn't_ be consequences for dealing with such powers, did you?" "I didn't think it would be anything like _that_ ," the silver-haired man shook his head, "Why didn't you warn me?" "I'm a pragmatist. I want my attacks to _stay_ a secret," the ebony-haired teen replied blandly, "I knew if you found out the consequences of breaking a vow to the Darkness that there would be no chance of them being revealed by any action of _yours_. Basically, I let you make a vow that would trap you into keeping your word because it guaranteed the result I wanted." "….Sometimes you can be really terrifying," Touya deadpanned. "I'm choosing to take that as a compliment," Vanitas allowed a small smirk to flicker across his face, "So are you going to help me up or am I going to be spending the rest of the afternoon down here?" "You're that tired," Captain Shimomura gave his godson a concerned look. "Not tired," the teen shook his head slightly, "Stiff. The attack hit right in the middle of my work-out and I didn't get a chance to cool down properly. My muscles are all a mass of knots right now." The Watch Captain flinched in sympathy as he bent down to grasp the fifteen-year old's right wrist, "Say no more."

By the time Officer Himura came down with dinner, Vanitas' accelerated healing had taken care of his problem with his knotted muscles and he was moving around normally. 'The one good thing about these damn attacks,' the teen considered as he ate, 'is that they have yet to happen twice in one week. I should be clear for a while now.' The rest of his day passed fairly normally. He read some more, he managed to fit in one last exercise session, and he meditated before bed. He did note that the emptiness had grown even more during his evening meditation. It was not an unexpected find. The teen sighed as he stood up from the floor and looked up towards the tiny window near the ceiling on the far wall. He missed the outdoors. He missed a lot of things about his old life, but knew there was nothing he could do to change it. He sighed again and started getting ready for bed. There was no point in pining for what he could not have, so he didn't. It did not stop him from remembering, though.

Once he'd gotten dressed for bed – Vanitas wasn't taking _any_ chances of being caught in just his boxers the next morning –, brushed his teeth, and lay back on his bunk there was nothing more to stop him from drifting into a reflective state. He started thinking about how he'd progressed with his abilities first. He'd finally conjured a full set of Dark armor, and he personally thought it was worth the wait. It fit more like a second layer of skin, but was still tough enough to deflect common blades. The color scheme was also much to his liking: red, black, and dark blue. He'd also come up with a rather devastating attack technique that he had taken to calling the Dark Cannon. Touya had banned him from practicing that one at full power which was understandable; the beam had completely vaporized the training dummies and went on to gouge a fairly big crater in the far wall. He had finally mastered his third tier Dark spells with the exception of Cure which was now on second tier. He'd even finally got the hang of Aero as an attack technique; he still sucked at using it defensively, though. He'd perfected a skill where he melted into shadow and then sprang up in a surprise attack; he called it the Shadow Strike. He'd also developed a technique where he enveloped himself in a sphere of solid Darkness from which he could launch primitive copies of himself to attack anyone who tried to break through the sphere. He was still working on a name for it. His current project was applying what he'd learned in the creation of his armor to trying to create a weapon by the same process; in short, he was trying to create a Sword of Darkness. He was making steady progress in the materialization part, but _keeping_ it solid was another thing entirely. It was going to take some work.

Vanitas then started thinking about how his friends and brother were doing as he drew out the Wayfinder he kept hidden under his pillow and gazed at it. He'd blocked the link between him and Sora so effectively that he couldn't even feel it anymore. On the one hand it was a relief that he wasn't forced to endure his brother's grief when he'd left, but on the other…a part of him missed the feeling of connection. The problem was, since he could no longer _feel_ the link, he had no way of removing the block. The fact that he hadn't heard anything that would indicate that they'd gotten themselves into trouble with the villagers for his sake was of some comfort. He sighed sadly; the problem was…he had asked them to forget him. The fact that they _had_ stayed out of trouble led him to believe that they had obeyed his request, and that hurt. Yes, he'd _wanted_ them to forget, but at the same time he _hadn't_ wanted them to. "It's been three years," he whispered sadly as he pressed the charm to his chest and held it tightly, "There's no way they still remember…not if they were _trying_ to forget… I know it's for the best, but…I don't want to be forgotten… It hurts…" He took a shuddering breath as he curled onto his side and whispered again, "It hurts…"

 **A/N:** And that's this chapter. I know this chapter was really short. The fact is that there isn't really much you can do with a character whose freedom to act is so limited; even if it _is_ Vanitas. I was initially thinking of sticking in a paragraph or two covering him practicing with his abilities (including Unversed creation), but it just didn't happen. I still wanted to cover how his powers had progressed, so I just stuck in a segment where he was thinking about it. For the record, at this point Vanitas has all the abilities, varieties of Unversed, and techniques that he does in Birth by Sleep (which I need to actually play before starting the next book so I can get a better idea of what they actually _look_ like. Watching other people's play-throughs just isn't giving me a clear enough picture… I am going to die _so_ much…) at his disposal. I ended up not using the bit I wrote earlier after all. I feel like keeping you guys in suspense for a few more books. Maybe book four. I have the bit saved in my extras document anyways, so I don't need to worry about forgetting it. We are down to our last two chapters after this. The next chapter is the resolution. Then we have the epilogue which wraps up this book and transitions to the next. This is a good thing…I only have three days before my first day of class as of my writing this. I started writing this story the week before Christmas…it is now January 22nd. Because of my approach to writing and posting stories you will be reading this chapter roughly eighteen weeks after I finish the epilogue. None of the stuff you read is current for me. I'll already be working on the outline for the next four books and possibly even start playing Birth by Sleep. I have a copy now, but I want to finish KH2 before I start. That might take me a couple of months… I'm already part of the way through the outline for book two. I'm not actually going to start _writing_ the next book until the semester ends. Outlines I can do, but a full on story? My school-work would abruptly cease to exist for me. The end result is you are all going to be waiting a while for book two. This…is going to be a _massive_ project that will probably take me at least two years to finish. If not more since I have no idea when my focus will shift away from this fandom, or when it will shift back. Hence my need for the outlines. I need to make sure I don't forget anything important to the plot. Hopefully I can maintain my interest… CURSE YOU SHORT ATTENTION SPAN! I'm rambling again. Sorry. See you all next time!


	22. A Way Out

**A/N:** LAST ACTUAL CHAPTER BEFORE THE EPILOGUE! WHOOHOOO! I'm gonna make it! I'm gonna finish this before the semester starts! YES! This chapter will be the last one set in Unmei until we return briefly in book three. It ceases to be truly relevant to the plot after this book. Therefore we will be saying farewell to everyone who are not my protagonists. Also we'll be saying hello to the King of Lux and two of his Royal Guardsmen. They'll be important to the plot for a while. The king all the way to the beginning of book four and the Guards all the way into book five! I won't be killing any of the characters who are obsolete off. I could, but that would just give my protagonists unnecessary trauma. Believe me, they are _not_ going to be lacking in trauma to the point that I need to resort to pointless character death; especially in the beginning of book three…or the end of book two. Not sure where I should stick that bit yet… Anyways, this is the final ACTUAL chapter. Takes place a year after the last one. Vanitas and Riku are both sixteen. The rest of them are fifteen. Pairings are officially relevant to the plot as of now… WHEE! God, I suck at writing romantic relationships… They all come out sounding like exceptionally close friendships… Rambling again. DAMMIT! Ugh, let's just begin the chapter before I make your eyes fall out from my excess babbling. Here we go!

 ** _Disclaimer:_** The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all.

Chapter 21: A Way Out

Mayor Uchida sighed guiltily as he watched his daughter leave to spend time with her friends; Kairi had officially won her battle to make her parents acknowledge their bigotry and the harm it had done. The auburn haired man now thoroughly regretted the way he'd persecuted the older Yagami, but it was too late for him to fix it the way she wanted. He knew his daughter was hoping that he would be able to use his authority as mayor to _make_ the villagers accept Vanitas. The problem was that this was an _extremely_ naïve view of how being the mayor actually _worked_. He couldn't actually force people to change their viewpoints. Sure he could manipulate them and twist them to his own ends, but he couldn't actually make them do anything that would violate what they believed was right. There were limits. The most he could do was stop by the Watch House and ask Touya to convey his formal apology for how he had acted to the young man he'd so badly wronged.

'Actually,' Kojiro flinched as he remembered the message he'd sent off to the regional governor last week, 'That's not the _only_ thing I could do… If Vanitas were taken _away_ from Unmei…there'd be no reason for him to remain locked up so long as he never returned. But that's the problem…he'd never be able to come back. My poor little angel will _still_ never see her friend again. I'm so sorry, sweetie. I've done everything I can to at least give him his freedom back, but…it still won't make things right.' His wife walked into the parlor and noticed the sorrowful look on her husband's face; she walked over and hugged him lightly. "Thinking about the request you made," Kasumi questioned gently. "I am," the mayor replied sadly, "It will break our little Kairi's Heart to learn that I can't actually fix my mistakes any other way. But getting the King involved is our only option, now. I only hope the man is everything Mr. Harris claims…" "I'm sure he is," the burgundy-haired woman replied comfortingly, "For a man as stubbornly principled as that teacher to be so devoted he'd _have_ to be." Mayor Uchida managed a weak laugh as he remembered the passionate defense the golden blonde-haired man had given for his actions four years ago, "I can't argue with that."

King Ansem Ogata leaned forward in his chair as he addressed the current Regional Governor of the Dawn District, "And you say this is only the most recent complaint you've received from this village, Megumi?" Governor Megumi Nomura sighed and nodded in response, "This is the first that consists of anything more than 'that monster is a menace and should be destroyed' or 'that demon's killed before, so what's to stop him from killing again'. The only reason I haven't addressed the matter before now is that Unmei is one of the most remote villages in the district and is as conservative as they get. I always figured they were just the normal exaggerations these people always come up with when they encounter someone different. I admit the 'killing' ones always gave me a bit of concern, but when I contacted the local Captain of the Watch he assured me that the individual in question only did so when he had no other choice. I figured it wasn't an issue…but then this most recent letter came in. It's…troubling." "How so," the King questioned politely with a note of concern.

"It came from the mayor for one thing," Governor Nomura rubbed her forehead to try to relieve her growing tension headache, "He's never bothered contacting me for more than letting me know that the annual taxes were ready for collection. There's also the content… My King, there is a Darkness wielder in Unmei and the mayor has informed me that the Watch Captain has been forced to take him into protective custody just to stop the villagers from lynching him. The man is begging me to send someone to get this person _out_ of the village before the situation gets any worse. I…don't think a Darkness wielder would fare much better in Yoake, my liege. I don't think he'd fare well anywhere in the Dawn District. The old fears and superstitions are far too entrenched for it to be safe. This is beyond my ability to deal with, Your Highness. I need help." King Ansem frowned and gave a firm nod, "Then you shall receive it. I am in the middle of one of my annual tours of the kingdom to hear and address my people's concerns. It should be of no inconvenience to make a stop in this village of Unmei. It is on the Ten'no Peninsula, you said?" The lady governor smiled in relief and stood to point out the exact location on the map on her wall, "Yes, Your Majesty. It should take you less than a day for your convoy to arrive from here." She continued giving the exact directions the King's convoy needed to follow while outlining them on the map; they weren't particularly complicated. The amber-eyed monarch listened intently.

The King was thoughtful as he walked with the two Guards accompanying him to his transport; if you were to take a black and white striped SUV, make it more streamlined, have the interior be a combination of a limo and an old style carriage, make it a hover vehicle, and add silver and gold scrollwork to the outside you'd have a pretty good idea of how it looked. The entire convoy consisted of vehicles like that only some had only gold scrollwork, some only silver, and the rest were just plain black and white stripes. They weren't zebra pattern stripes; just alternating bands of black and white running lengthwise down the body of the vehicle. He was still thinking as he climbed in and took his seat across from his men, and didn't speak until he felt the vehicle begin to move. "Dilan," he calmly addressed his Guards, "Aeleus. I am deeply concerned." "By what, my King," Dilan wondered. Aeleus remained silent, but had an inquisitive look on his face to show he wished to know what was troubling his King. "It has been five generations since my family began its campaign of reform," Ansem frowned deeply, "and yet to learn that progress has stalled so badly out here… Simply enacting laws that restrict discrimination or abuse is not enough. Encouraging tolerance and acceptance is not enough. Simply spreading the word that the Darkness is a neutral force just as Light is. Is. Not. Enough. We need to be doing more." "I'm not sure what more can be done," the black-haired Guard frowned, "Your great-great grandfather admitted those of the Dark into the Royal Guard, and your great grandfather went one step further by elevating some of them to nobility. I'm not sure you can make a grander gesture than that." Aeleus finally spoke up, "But Guards and nobles are still fairly remote from the Royal Family. We can only get so close."

King Ansem stroked his beard in thought as an idea occurred to him before he stated, "My daughter needs a bodyguard. Perhaps if a known Darkness wielder were to hold the position it would show that they can be trusted." His two Guards blinked in surprise at this notion before they considered it more carefully. "That…could work," Dilan admitted, "but what if you make the wrong choice? This is your daughter we are talking about. The heir to the throne. If the wielder you choose is a coward at Heart, or harbors criminal intent… My King, this could backfire horribly." "I am aware," the amber-eyed monarch stated solemnly, "but this is for the future well-being of my kingdom. If I am not willing to take chances or make sacrifices then there will be _no_ change. I love my daughter dearly, but I also love my people. I will not neglect one for the sake of the other. I believe this will work, but you are right. I need to be cautious about who I select for the position. There can be no mistakes." Aeleus frowned, but said nothing; the taciturn Guard recognized that his King had already made up his mind. He trusted that his liege lord knew what was best, and saw no point in arguing the matter any further. The sandy-haired man was only a Guard after all. What did he know about politics and running a kingdom? He knew his place. His dark-haired companion on the other hand seemed determined to convince the King that this was a bad idea. The craggy-featured Guard sighed silently and tried to ignore the other man. To think that some people said that _he_ was stubborn.

The Royal Convoy arrived in Unmei late that evening. The King decided that it would be best to put off his business until the morning, and directed his men to book rooms at the local inn. The innkeeper was clearly stunned when the royal entourage entered his establishment, but was more than accommodating. They didn't get over-night guests in Unmei all that often, so the entire second story was vacant; really, he made more of a living as a tavern operator than as an innkeeper. He and his wife provided King Ansem, and the thirty-five Guards with him, with a simple home-cooked meal for dinner and then showed the men and women up to their rooms. The night passed uneventfully, and the next morning the amber-eyed monarch set out to learn more about the situation in Unmei. The villagers were all polite when the monarch questioned them, but they did not hold back with their honest opinions. It soon became clear to the blonde king that over half the population would greatly prefer it if 'the monster' was just flat out executed but were willing to tolerate his being locked away. The remainder were either indifferent to his existence, though the knowledge of his abilities made them a tad uneasy, or they felt sorry for him but didn't want to rock the boat. It wasn't until he met the Mayor and Captain of the Watch that he was able to get a clearer picture of the mysterious Darkness wielder.

"I must confess that for years I was quite hard on the boy," the auburn-haired mayor admitted sadly, "He was just so _strange_ though. Those eyes of his didn't help any either. So inhuman… He could be quite terrifying when he wanted to be, but I realize now that he never actually threatened anyone. It was all a bluff." The Watch Captain was even more forthcoming, "He's the most loyal and self-sacrificing young man I've ever known. It may take him a while to open-up, but once he does there is nothing he won't do to keep those important to him safe. He was even willing to let his status as a Darkness wielder be revealed to save one of the village women from being raped by bandits. He's got a noble Heart. He's a damn good fighter, too. I don't know many twelve-year olds who could successfully win a duel to the death with a bandit chief, but he pulled it off. He's got good instincts. Really, if he has any problems it's that he's way too damn secretive and devious for his own good. Also he needs to cut back on the ruthless pragmatism." "May I speak with the boy," King Ansem requested politely. The Captain frowned before he shrugged, "I don't see why not. Follow me and I'll take you to his cell."

The King did not really have a clear idea of what he was expecting the young Darkness wielder he'd heard so much about to look like but, when he first saw the young man, he was pretty sure it wasn't what he saw. He was sixteen years old, around five and a half feet tall, in remarkable physical condition, alarmingly pale, with gleaming black hair and sharp golden-yellow eyes. When the forty-year old monarch approached the cell he was leaning casually against the wall while sitting on his bed staring off into space. He didn't move or make any sign of registering the two men's approach, but it became clear he was aware of them when he spoke in an even tone. "You don't normally bring company with you, Touya," the teen spoke in a low, smooth tenor voice. "This is a rather unusual situation, Vanitas," Touya gestured to the inquisitive monarch standing beside him, "This is the King of Lux. He wanted to meet you." Vanitas turned his head slightly to examine the King before he questioned, "Why would the King want to meet _me_?" "Vanitas, correct? I am called Ansem," the amber-eyed monarch stepped forward, "I hear you are a Darkness wielder." "You heard correctly," the golden-eyed teen responded flatly, "I still don't see how that makes me important enough to merit the King's attention." "It does when one of my Regional Governors receives a letter indicating strongly that your safety is at risk," Ansem replied calmly.

The sixteen-year old stiffened slightly before a short, bitter laugh escaped him, "Your Highness, my safety has been at risk since I was _two_. I nearly _died_ when I was _eight_. If my godfather," the teen paused to give a nod in the Watch Captain's direction, "hadn't taken me into protective custody when I was _twelve_ …well, I'd be dead. Why would you care _now_? Why would anyone?" "There's no need to be hostile Vanitas," Touya chided in exasperation. "This isn't hostile," the ebony-haired teen countered, "Trust me. Right now I'm just confused. It doesn't make any sense for the King to be here or be interested in me. Some clarification would be great." The King sighed and explained that he'd been on his annual tour of the kingdom when the Dawn District's Regional Governor had requested a meeting. She'd presented her concerns over the situation in Unmei, and the letter she'd received from the mayor pleading for assistance. He explained how he saw it as his duty to his people to hear their troubles and attempt to resolve them, and so he'd made to the village to do exactly that. He recounted how he'd spoken to the villagers, and the growing concern he'd felt at the open hostility. "It greatly disturbs me to learn that my family's reforms have yet to take hold out here," King Ansem sighed, "I fear that their progress has stalled. Still, what I heard was enough to convince me that I needed to at least _meet_ the person all these troubles seem to revolve around." "They still want me dead, don't they," Vanitas sighed, "Figures. I'm never getting out of here…"

King Ansem frowned in thought as the ebony-haired teen trailed off and looked away. He was considering the plan he'd come up with on the way to Unmei. His daughter needed a bodyguard, he wanted to give the position to one affiliated with the Darkness, he needed this person to have several distinct qualities including loyalty, strength of Heart, strength of arms, trustworthiness, and intelligence. Now here before him was a young Darkness wielder with no future who, from what the Watch Captain had shared with him earlier, displayed many of those qualities. Perhaps they could solve each other's problems. The King decided to take a chance and spoke once more, "I have a problem of my own. As I mentioned earlier, the progress of the reforms my family has enacted has stalled out here in the West. I need to prove to _all_ of my subjects that Darkness wielders are no different from everyone else. Perhaps you could help me with this?" Vanitas shot the amber-eyed monarch a puzzled look, "What? Me? How?" "If I were to place a Darkness wielder of some skill in a position of great responsibility, and they were to serve with utmost loyalty and devotion, then there would be no doubting that others like this individual are equally deserving of such trust," the monarch replied. The golden-eyed teen still looked uncertain, "What position would that be?" "I need a bodyguard for my daughter," Ansem pronounced evenly, "She is my only child and the heir to the throne. Whoever I select for the position will be responsible for her safety and, by virtue of being her protector, the future of this kingdom."

The sixteen-year old could not mask the astonishment he felt as he realized what was being offered, "You…you want me…to be the princess' bodyguard? _Why_?" "From what your godfather told me earlier you have all the qualities I was hoping to find," King Ansem replied calmly, "He told me you were loyal, self-sacrificing, brave, a skilled fighter, responsible, noble, and willing to do whatever it takes. If you were to accept the position you would be leaving with me to return to the capital, Radiant Garden, immediately to begin training for your duties. You'd need to learn basic politics, the proper manners and behavior for dealing with the royal court, castle layout, restricted areas that should be avoided, the nature of the duties you will be expected to perform, and other such things. I would also like to get a demonstration of your full abilities before administering the oath of service. This is not so much a requirement as it is a chance for me to indulge my curiosity. I have several nobles who are from Dark families, but none of them are wielders. I must confess I have never truly had the chance to see the Darkness wielded by one who was trained to do so safely. I should like to get that chance. Unfortunately, you would be unlikely to be able to return to Unmei for a very long time if you did accept the position. Not until after my daughter is married, in fact. As she is still only fifteen, that day is a ways off yet. You would not be able to venture far from her side at any time except for when she is attending her lessons. I would be entrusting you with her _life_. I do not make this request lightly, and it is a heavy responsibility for one so young. However, it _would_ get you out of this cell and away from those who would persecute you for something over which you have no control. It would be a limited freedom I am offering, but it is still freedom. What do you say?"

Vanitas was, quite frankly, stunned and it showed. Yet behind his shell-shocked expression his mind was racing furiously. He had just been offered a way out of his imprisonment _and_ it could make things better for other Darkness wielders in the future. He thought about how Mikazuki and Riku both had to hide what they could do; how he had once done the same. If by taking this position he could make it so that they didn't have to hide anymore, then… It was tempting. It was very tempting. It would also mean that, if he _were_ to die at any point in the near future, it would likely be a _meaningful_ death. Falling in defense of a member of the Royal Family honestly struck the teen as being a _really_ badass way to go. This was also tempting. The downside was he wouldn't be able to return to Unmei for a very long time; he had mixed feelings about that. It wasn't as though he'd miss being the target of all that hatred, and he was utterly convinced that his friends and brother had long forgotten him. The only people who were likely to miss him were Touya and the handful of officers who actually knew and liked him; he didn't count his fan-club. They only liked him for his looks and so did not count. Still, this village was his home; it was where he grew up. Besides, even if Sora and the others had forgotten him, they were at least still nearby. If he took the position he'd be living all the way on the other side of the _country_. Vanitas wasn't sure he could stand being that far away from them whether they remembered he existed or not.

The dark-haired teen bit his lip and ran his hand through his hair as he thought hard. He wanted to take the job; a lot. Yet he did _not_ want to leave the others behind. Even if he couldn't be with them he still wanted to at least have them nearby. Suddenly he remembered the conversation about dreams he'd had with his friends when they'd introduced Namine to the group. Riku wanted to join the Royal Guard. 'What if… It could work,' the ebony-haired teen considered, 'I'll give it a shot. The worst he can do is say no.' "I'll take the job," the young Darkness wielder finally raised his head to meet the King's eyes as he spoke firmly, "on _one_ condition. I want you to consider the following people for enlistment in the Royal Guard. Riku Shimomura, Sora Yagami, Kairi Uchida, Roxas Harris, Ventus Harris, and Namine Uchiyama. I want you to at least offer them the chance to join. Do we have a deal?" King Ansem thought for a few moments before he smiled and nodded, "That sounds fair enough. Yes, we have a deal." Vanitas relaxed and smiled faintly back; if even one of them accepted the offer he would be satisfied. At least this way…he wouldn't be entirely alone.

Touya rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I guess that means I have an escort to arrange. Also going to have to call Mika and let her know the King'll be stopping by to speak to the boys…that's going to be a fun conversation… Should probably call Marcus and Kojiro too to let them know their kids are involved as well. Also need to find the keys to the cuffs again…" The golden-eyed teen rolled his eyes and grabbed the right cuff in his left hand, "Or I could just do this," and casually crushed and twisted the metal until it snapped off before repeating the process with the other cuff. The Watch Captain blinked before he facepalmed, "You could do that the entire time, couldn't you?" "It's ordinary steel with a weak suppression enchantment embedded in it," the teen shrugged, "Not even a challenge. I pretty much only kept them on to reassure the villagers that I'd stay put." "…I'm going to choose to take that as you being concerned for their peace of mind," Touya finally deadpanned. "You do that," the Darkness wielder nodded indulgently.

Vanitas arranged with the King that he and the prospective Guard candidates _not_ travel together. He didn't want the others to know it was because of him that they had this opportunity. In fact, he's just as soon avoid them altogether. He didn't think he could handle them not recognizing him, and chose to spare himself that pain by just staying away. King Ansem accepted this arrangement without feeling the need to question it; he had no idea that the teen had a close personal connection with the people he'd included as his condition for taking the job. At the most, the King believed that the people he was going to extend the offer to were individuals who had been kind to the Darkness wielder in the past. The monarch figured the sixteen-year old wanted to pay them back for that anonymously. For his part, the golden-eyed teen was okay with letting his new employer believe that even if it was dead wrong. The amber-eyed monarch waited patiently while the sixteen-year old said goodbye to his godfather. "Take care of yourself, son," the silver-haired man had whispered as he embraced his godson. "I will," the teen had replied quietly, "Goodbye, Uncle Touya…and thank you."

The King then walked with the young wielder, in the company of an escort of five Watchmen, back to his convoy at the village gates and introduced him to Aeleus and Dilan. "This young man has consented to be my daughter's bodyguard in exchange for asylum from his persecutors. He will be returning ahead of the rest of the convoy to get a head start on his training. Aeleus, I want you to return with him." "As you wish, my King," the craggy featured Guard bowed formally before escorting Vanitas to one of the transports. "Dilan, I wish for you to come with me. I have been informed of a number of individuals who may be potential recruits for the Royal Guard," Ansem addressed the other Guard. "Yes, Your Majesty," the dark-haired Guard bowed. The two men headed back across town to the Shimomura place where the Watch Captain had informed the King he was most likely to find all the people he sought. "They're all friends with my son," Touya had clarified, "So they hang out together a lot." His dormant mischievous streak had flared up; he only regretted that he wouldn't get to see the look of surprise on the monarch's face when he realized that Sora and his new recruit were, in fact, siblings. It was the Yagami hair that gave it away. It was a family trait that their hair liked to settle into the exact same spiky mess of a hairstyle.

Sora and the others were all sparring, except for Namine who was watching on the sidelines, when the King arrived. "Am I interrupting something," the amber-eyed monarch asked in amusement. Ventus sputtered and abruptly dropped out of the three-way melee he was in with the fifteen-year old Yagami and Kairi as he recognized who had just arrived. Roxas nearly tripped and fell in his surprise as he blurted, "Ah…King Ansem… Uh, no. We were just…uh…sparring your…um…Highness." The twins then both bowed deeply as their friends gaped at the man who'd just walked in. "What's the King doing here," the brunette whispered to the red-haired girl standing next to him. "I dunno," she whispered back. The blonde healer flushed and curtseyed awkwardly, "Um, it's nice to meet you, your Majesty…" King Ansem only smiled kindly as he looked over the teens, "I wish to make you all an offer." The six friends looked at each other uncertainly before the younger teens all gave their oldest member pleading looks. Riku sighed before he replied, "We're listening."

"I was informed by an anonymous party of six individuals who had some skill," Ansem proceeded formally, "and I can see that I was not misled. I would like to offer all of you the opportunity to enlist in training for the Royal Guard." The teens all gaped in surprise; sure five of them had been planning to join for the past two years, but to have it offered to them just like that… Sora pulled off his training helmet to reveal his spiky hairstyle and grinned, "I'm in!" The red-haired fifteen-year old nodded firmly, "I'm coming, too!" Their silver-haired best friend smirked before he chimed in, "A chance to join the Guard? Wouldn't miss it for the world." Roxas didn't even hesitate, "I'm joining." His younger twin grinned and stuck his hands behind his head, "Where my brother goes, I go. Count me in!" Namine bit her lip and shook her head, "I…can't. I'm…not a fighter, and I have my apprenticeship to think of. Baba needs me…" The older twin flinched as he realized he'd be leaving her behind and shot her an apologetic look. "You must do as you think is right," King Ansem nodded to the young healer before turning his attention back to the rest of the teens, "We will be departing for Radiant Garden tomorrow at seven in the morning. That should give you enough time to get packed and say goodbye to your families. I look forward to hearing of your progress." The King had indeed been startled to note the resemblance between Vanitas and the brunette who had jumped at the chance to join the Guard, but didn't let on. He would keep his word to the Darkness wielder and not reveal the part he played in this. However, he _would_ be requesting an explanation for why the deception was necessary. Now that he knew that there was a connection between these teens…it made the black-haired boy's avoidance look quite worrying.

After the King left four of the new recruits started talking excitedly about this amazing chance they had been offered. "Wow, the Royal Guard," Ventus grinned as he shook his head in amazement, "I can't believe it!" "We've only been accepted for training," Riku pointed out, "We aren't in the Guard yet." "Still," Sora grinned, "that's a pretty big deal. That's step one down, right?" "He's right," Kairi laughed, "Now all we need is to qualify, rise in the ranks a bit, then we can come back here and bust our friend out!" She threw her fist into the air at that which made the two excitable teens laugh and copy her. "Right on, Kai," Ven crowed. "All for one and one for all," the brunette proclaimed. The silver-haired teen just grinned and whispered, "Just hang on, Vanitas…" The other two had not joined in the excitement for they were off to the side talking quietly. "I'm sorry, Namine," the older twin apologized, "I just reacted without thinking. I forgot all about your apprenticeship." "It's okay," the blonde girl smiled sadly, "It's not like we're in a relationship or anything…" "But I _want_ to be," the darker blonde admitted, "I really like you. A lot." "Oh, Roxas," the healer's apprentice sniffled, "I like you a lot, too." "Tell you what," Roxas smiled weakly, "I promise I'll write you every day. And one day I'll come back and maybe…if you want to…we could…you know…date…" Namine returned the smile, "I'd like that. I'll write you too. That way we won't forget each other." "I could never forget you," her dear friend vowed fervently as he gently brushed her hair away from her face, " _Never_."

The two blondes embraced before they broke apart and rejoined the rest of their friends. It was a pity the offer had stopped their growing relationship before it could blossom, but they refused to let it fade. They cared for each other far too deeply to allow that to happen; they loved each other even if they had never spoken the words. Neither of the saddened blondes let on to their friends about how much the situation had affected them, though. They didn't want to diminish their happiness; after all, they all believed this would be their best chance to rescue Vanitas from his cell. They had no idea that he didn't even need rescuing anymore, and never really had. They soon separated to get their things together and say their goodbyes. This would be a new adventure, and the five new recruits were looking forward to it.

 **A/N:** And that's a wrap for this chapter. I guess the little romantic bit wasn't as awkward as I thought. It came out a lot better than expected seeing as my only experience with such things is reading other people's fanfiction. Thank God that I am a fairly decent mimic… Seriously, I have no idea how couples actually act. I am literally basing this on every fanfic I have ever read that had a romantic pairing and working off of that as a model. I have _no_ real life experience. I have never dated. Ever. I have no idea what romantic love even feels like because I have never actually been in love. I'm not even entirely sure I am capable of that form of love. I'm autistic and I am asexual. Not a good combination for when you are _trying_ to write a story that has a romantic sub-plot that is _kind of_ vital to the story! Mimicry don't fail me now! Geh…nerves… When I said this was a resolution chapter what I meant was that it was basically resolving this book's primary conflict: the prejudice against the Darkness. In reality, it's going to take a lot longer than one book to resolve that problem, but there are signs of improvement now. Also, my characters are _away_ from that conflict now, so I'm counting that as a form of conflict resolution. Running away is a viable approach! Just saying. Besides, they'll be back. Believe me, though, when they return…this book's conflict will be knocked stone. Cold. Dead. I have…issues with prejudice. Mostly the small-town variety directed against those who are different, but I really don't _like_ it. I don't like it when people judge other people over superficial differences. It's stupid! It drives me nuts! I don't get it! I just do not get why humans do stupid things like that! _Why is my species so confusing?!_ Sorry. That got a bit emotional. I just get frustrated sometimes with my inability to relate to my own species. I like cats better. Cats make sense. All that's left now is the epilogue. That'll be pretty short. I like the title I came up with… It fits. Well, I'll see you all next time. Wow, I can't believe I'm almost done…


	23. Epilogue

**A/N:** Last chapter. The last. Freaking. Chapter. I can't believe it. I made it. Wow. I'm kind of in shock here. Wow. This is going to be the transition into book two. It's not going to be very long. Mostly focused on Vanitas…and I'm probably going to hint at the story's actual main antagonist. I doubt it'll be that big of a mystery. Seriously, this is a _Kingdom Hearts_ fic. I'm not going to create a whole new bad guy when Nomura provided me with a perfectly good one that I _really_ want to stab in the face multiple times. I'm not apologizing. He deserves it. Ooh, I should have that happen in book five! Wish fulfillment thy name is fanfiction… Well, let's get this over with. Dear God, I can't believe I'm actually finishing a story… That's a first… I've been on this site since I was thirteen and this is the first actual story I've finished…and I'm thirty…almost thirty-one… Right. Epilogue. Starting now.

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ The Kingdom Hearts franchise and the associated characters still belong to SquareENIX and Tetsuya Nomura. That is all (holy hell, I'm actually finishing a story…)

Epilogue: A New Beginning Always Starts at the End

Aeleus eyed the silent sixteen year old sitting across from him in the transport. They were a day out of Unmei and the young man hadn't spoken once. The taciturn Guard wasn't complaining. He rather enjoyed the quiet, but it was doing nothing to quell his growing curiosity about the mysterious teen. Still, he wasn't the sort to press for answers. He figured that he'd find out what he wanted to know if he was patient. 'Good things come to those who wait,' the sandy-haired man considered with a faint smile. The dark-haired teen who intrigued the quiet guard was gazing out the window of the vehicle lost in his own thoughts. Vanitas had never been this far from Unmei in his life and was honestly quite curious about what the rest of the kingdom was like. He was also starting to worry about how people would react to his appearance. He'd been condemned for his unusual eye color back home for years before his true powers were revealed. He did _not_ want to deal with that again in Radiant Garden. He was also unsure how comfortable he was with the idea of his identity being known. In all honesty, he'd rather remain anonymous and was trying to work out how he could manage that. His fingers idly brushed across the Wayfinder fastened to his belt as his mind raced. Concealing his appearance was no problem. The armor he'd conjured last year had a helmet with a mirrored visor that completely masked his facial features. All anyone who tried to look him in the eye would see would be their own dim reflection. He was also trying to work out what he would call himself. Vanitas would rather there not be a connection between his identity as the Princess' bodyguard and the outcast of Unmei, and so refused to use his real name or any variation of it. He didn't want his alias to sound like some lame superhero name either. He was going to be a bodyguard not some spandex clad crime-fighter. 'I could always just call myself the Dark Warrior,' the golden-eyed teen mused before he rejected it, 'Nah, that's the name of a character from a kid's story.'

Vanitas continued thinking well into the afternoon before he settled on a name. It still sounded a bit cheesy to his mind, but it was the best he could come up with. "…Dark Aegis," he muttered the alias quietly. Aeleus may not have caught the words, but he did notice his traveling companion's lips move. "What did you say," the sandy-haired Guard questioned. "I don't want people to know who I am," the teen clarified reluctantly, "…so I'll call myself the Dark Aegis. Or just Aegis for short." The taciturn Guard considered the name, "It fits considering what you are and the position you will be holding. You are a Darkness wielder. You are going to become the princess' bodyguard. It is appropriate." A small grin briefly flashed across the dark-haired teen's face, "Thanks." He sank back into his reflective state as he watched the scenery flash by outside. Now he was wondering what the future would hold for him. It was an unfamiliar concept; for the past four years he hadn't _had_ much of a future. The sixteen-year old wasn't sure how he felt about suddenly having options again. He wasn't exactly an ambitious person. Heck, his only real dreams were to live past age thirty and to die a meaningful death. They weren't really the sort of dreams you could use to motivate yourself. It occurred to him that he should _probably_ find a better dream than the ones he had. They were kind of depressing. Vanitas sighed as he started idly twining strands of Darkness between his fingers. Whatever awaited him it would probably be a lot better than anything he could have hoped for back in Unmei. 'I just hope the ache goes away,' the golden-eyed teen mused, 'I am _so_ sick of being in pain…' Maybe that could be his new dream: to find relief from his pain. 'It's practical, I suppose,' the black-haired teen admitted to himself, 'but it's not very likely. Not with those damned attacks. Wish I knew what they were…'

The Darkness wielder sighed as evening fell, 'I should probably summon my armor. I need to get used to wearing it 24/7.' He focused his mind and called up the tendrils of Darkness that would form the suit. Aeleus jolted slightly in surprise as the advancing tide swirled up from the teen's feet and swiftly covered his entire body before abruptly solidifying into an organic looking red and black bodysuit with a mirrored helmet and a red and dark blue half-skirt thing. "What the…," the sandy-haired Guard muttered. "It's as good a uniform as any," Vanitas replied to the Guard's quiet question, "I figured I may as well get used to wearing it. I also need to get used to maintaining it without concentrating. I can use the rest of the trip for that." The two sank back into their familiar silence for a few more minutes as the teen checked to see if his Wayfinder had been affected by the change. To his surprise, it was hanging in the exact same place. He wondered if maybe there wasn't something to the supposed power of the charm after all, and was oddly comforted by the thought. Even if his friends and brother _had_ forgotten him…so long as he had the charm they were still connected.

'Maybe this connection,' Vanitas mused as he lightly grasped the Wayfinder, 'if it's truly unbreakable…will one day allow them to remember me… ' Finally, the armored teen asked his companion, "What's Radiant Garden like?" The taciturn Guard frowned, "I'm…not the best person to ask. It's…nice I suppose. As the name suggests, there are a number of gardens and fountains. It's big, but it doesn't feel like a city. The tallest building is the castle. Most of the residences are practical houses not much different from what you're used to back home. There are also several mansions belonging to the nobility. There are no skyscrapers or large business complexes like in other cities. Most businesses are in modest-sized low rises. The basic appearance has been the same for thousands of years. It's considered a timeless city for that. It's…quiet. Peaceful." The masked sixteen-year old hummed thoughtfully, but said nothing in response; it sounded like a nice place. He was looking forward to seeing it for himself.

Many miles away, in a mansion in the capital, there was another conversation taking place in a darkened room. "This is a pretty risky plan you're suggesting," one voice admitted. "You can't back out now," another replied emotionlessly, "We've taken you into confidence." "I'm not backing out," the first voice protested, "I'm just wanting to point out that we're going to have to time this perfectly if we're going to pull it off." "That will not be a problem," a third voice stated smugly, "We've accounted for all the variables. There is no chance of failure." "As if," the first voice snorted, "Something can _always_ go wrong. Ever hear of Murphy's Law? It's a thing." "We will be cautious," the second voice intoned, "There is no need to rush heedlessly. When the proper time comes…we will strike." "And we will be victorious," the third confirmed firmly. "You are bold," a fourth voice interjected, "That is good, but take care that you do not reveal your intent prematurely. We still have appearances to maintain. For now we must behave like the loyal subjects they think we are." "Pfft. Loyal," the first voice laughed, "Like that's ever gotten me anywhere." "You will be loyal to us," the second voice whispered menacingly. "Don't sweat it," the first voice drawled, "I know what the winning side is. I'm in this for the long haul." "Just remember your place," the fourth voice stated warningly. "You can count on me, boss," the first voice affirmed. "You can count on us as well, father," the third voice chimed in. "Lux will fall," the second voice murmured, "and in its place we will raise a kingdom of Darkness." "Supreme Darkness," the third voice purred. "And no one will even know it is coming until it is too late," the first voice laughed, "This is great." "Yes, the fourth voice murmured, "but that is only the first step in my plan… Absolute power. Absolute knowledge. These are what I desire." "And we'll see that you get it, boss man," the first voice crowed, "Count on it." "Indeed," the second voice affirmed. "We will not fail you," the third voice finished. "Excellent," the fourth voice stated in satisfaction. It then dismissed the meeting. "Soon," the fourth voice whispered, "Very soon…I shall have my desire…"

 **A/N:** And that is it! I'm officially finished with book one. Wait. Hold on. I…finished…a story… I actually finished something. Holy cow….I ACTUALLY FINISHED A STORY FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE AS A WRITER! WOO HOO! I did it! I actually did it! I can't believe I actually did it! I am not kidding, I have never finished anything before and I finally DID IT! WORDS CANNOT ADEQUATELY EXPRESS THE SHEER JOY AND ELATION I FEEL RIGHT NOW! SKLEEEE! I am happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, HAPPY! SO HAPPY! Heh, that word looks weird. I FINISHED A STORY! OHMYGOD! GYEEE! OW… Okay…a figment of my imagination just smacked me upside the head with a Keyblade. You know you've gone overboard when your own mind attacks you. I'm just kind of in shock, really. This is the first multi-chapter serious story I've ever actually completed. Yes, it is technically only the first one in a series of five, but still. This is a pretty major accomplishment for me. It is January 23rd, 2016 as of my writing this sentence. This is the _official_ completion date of this story regardless of what it says on the site. Commit it to memory! So I guess now all that's left is to finish the outlines for the other four books, and then start writing them. There…may be a bit of a long break between books. First off, I won't be getting much writing done during the semester. I'm in college and I want to stay in good standing. I can't do that if I write fanfic; everything else kind of ceases to exist when I write. I sometimes forget to eat. I can't take that chance during the semester. Second, I'm concerned as to how long I can maintain my focus on this fandom. I have a lot of others that I also find interesting. Sometimes it can take me a while to come back around. Longest cycle for KH was five years. I am going to try to stay in this fandom until this whole series is finished, but…this is probably going to take me at least two years. Maybe three. I'm not sure if I can hold my focus for that long. I might take a few breaks to dabble in other fandoms during the semesters and then come back to this one during summer and winter breaks. That might work out the best. What I'm trying to get at is I am not too sure how often I'm going to be coming out with new installments in the series. It will be finished! I can promise you that. I _refuse_ to abandon this! I have spent _way_ too much time on this to just drop it all! It's just going to take some time. That's all. So I guess that's everything. I'll see you all again when I post the next book. Hopefully, sometime this summer; fingers crossed. Wow, I really can't believe I actually finished something. Just wow…

 **(Present day edit: I got a couple of reviews from anonymous reviewers who only identified as 'guest' or 'anon'. Because of how the site is set up I can only send PM review responses to people who are signed in. Just letting you know, whoever you are, that I did read your reviews. I regret to inform you that the layout is staying the way it is. It's more of a matter of aesthetics. I've already broken up some paragraphs so they are less of a block of text, but I can't make them any shorter than that. They look wrong to me if I do. I've changed it as much as I can. I hope this is an acceptable compromise between your needs as a reader and mine as a writer.)**


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